Disasters & Incidents
Wildfires force mass evacuations from France’s Cap Ferret peninsula
Wildfires have forced tens of thousands of residents and tourists to leave France’s Cap Ferret peninsula by road and sea during the peak summer holiday season.
The fire began on Wednesday in Saumos, near the Medoc vineyards, and moved quickly through dense pine forests toward Cap Ferret, an Atlantic coast destination known for dunes, oyster shacks and holiday homes. Officials ordered the evacuation of the whole peninsula and its 40,000 summer residents. More than 35,000 people have already been evacuated.
Most people left by car on the peninsula’s single road. Hundreds were also taken out by boat under an evacuation plan that was drawn up after severe fires in the region in 2022 and has now been activated for the first time.
No deaths have been reported. More than 50 homes and a campsite have been destroyed. Regional prefect Sophie Brocas described the blaze as an “XXL wildfire” that was unpredictable and voracious.
Residents described empty streets, closed homes and sudden evacuations. Jean Goncalves, a 54-year-old Lege-Cap-Ferret resident, said he fled after seeing a neighbour’s wooden house catch fire. Cecile Maumy, speaking at the Cap-Ferret ferry terminal, said the area felt empty. Shopkeeper and local elected official David Lafforgue said the evacuation had been calm but warned that the economic impact could be severe because late July to late August is the peak business period.
Some evacuees were taken to Andernos, where local officials were also preparing for a possible evacuation. Deputy mayor Jean-Francois Garric said the town was receiving people from the peninsula in reception centres, but had then been instructed to evacuate those centres as well.
Another evacuee, Julie Boisvert, said gendarmes went door to door in Le Porge and gave her family only a short time to leave with their two young children. Ninety-year-old Maria Lalanne, who has no family, said she left her hearing aid and glasses behind and did not know what had happened to her home.
Firefighters were also battling another major fire near Biscarrosse, southwest of Bordeaux. Gilles Clavreul, prefect of Landes, said that fire began on Thursday and had forced 18,000 people to evacuate.
France has experienced three heatwaves since May. The report linked the conditions to increasingly frequent extreme weather associated with climate change, saying the heat has caused excess deaths, dried rivers and helped fuel wildfires.
Update
More than 35,000 people have been evacuated by road and sea from the Cap Ferret peninsula area.
The wildfire began on Wednesday in Saumos near the Medoc vineyards and spread through dense pine forest toward Cap Ferret.
No deaths have been reported, but more than 50 homes and a campsite have been destroyed.
Officials ordered the evacuation of the entire peninsula and its 40,000 summer residents.
Hundreds of people were evacuated by boat under a plan activated for the first time since being prepared after 2022 fires in the region.
Authorities in Andernos were preparing for a possible evacuation of the town and of reception centres sheltering evacuees.
A separate major fire near Biscarrosse, southwest of Bordeaux, began on Thursday and forced 18,000 people to evacuate, according to the Landes prefect.
Source note: AFP news report published on 24 July 2026 at 14:22:33 UTC.
Update
More than 80,000 people have fled or been told to stay indoors because of wildfires in France and Spain.
Spain ordered evacuations or shelter-in-place measures affecting more than 19,000 people in the Madrid region.
France and Spain requested European Union help, and the European Commission said it was sending four water-bombing planes to Spain and three to France.
France ordered 40,000 people evacuated from the Cap Ferret peninsula and another 23,000 from homes and campsites farther south in the Landes region.
French officials said more than 50 houses had been destroyed and dozens damaged.
Officials said two major fires west of Madrid had merged and were threatening Navas del Rey.
The source reports three firefighters killed this week in France and Italy while fighting wildfires.
The largest active fire in Spain was reported in Guadalajara province, where about 32,000 hectares had burned over the past week.
Source note: AFP news report published on 24 July 2026 at 14:26:31 UTC.
Update
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 80 homes had burned, about 50 of them completely destroyed.
Nunez said the fire was not yet under control and 1,000 firefighters were deployed.
Officials said boats had ferried more than 400 people from the Cap-Ferret peninsula.
President Emmanuel Macron said France had invoked the European Union civil protection mechanism and would receive reinforcements, including two Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Source note: AFP news report published on 24 July 2026 at 09:31:13 UTC.
Update
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the wildfire had ravaged more than 10,000 hectares, or 25,000 acres.
Nunez described it as the largest fire of the season.
Nunez said there had been no reported casualties so far.
Nunez said 80 homes had burned, including about 50 completely destroyed.
Source note: AFP news report published on 24 July 2026 at 08:09:43 UTC.
Update
France's interior minister told AFP that about 40,000 people had been evacuated because of wildfires in southwest France.
Source note: AFP news report published on 24 July 2026 at 08:00:58 UTC.
Update
Firefighters said the burned area had risen to 3,400 hectares.
Around 800 firefighters were fighting the blaze, with hundreds of gendarmes and soldiers also involved.
Officials and residents said the fire appeared to have been started by a brush-clearing machine.
Three houses were scorched and a caravan was destroyed, with no casualties reported so far.
The European Union deployed three water-bombing aircraft from other countries after France requested help.
Officials said the blaze was contained north of Lege.
Authorities said 12,000 people were evacuated on Wednesday and a further 8,800 from campsites on Thursday, with about 15 emergency reception centres opened.
Source note: AFP news report published on 23 July 2026 at 19:06:21 UTC.
Update
Authorities said more than 20,000 tourists and residents had been evacuated, including 12,000 late Wednesday and another 8,800 on Thursday.
Firefighters said the Le Porge fire had burned 3,100 hectares since Wednesday.
State official Sophie Brocas said one isolated home had been destroyed and no casualties had been reported.
Around 700 firefighters and several firefighting planes were involved.
The source added context on recent fires in southern France and Fontainebleau, and on heatwaves in France.
Source note: AFP news report published on 23 July 2026 at 13:50:25 UTC.
Update
Firefighters said the Le Porge blaze had burned 2,400 hectares since Wednesday, up from the earlier reported 2,000 hectares.
Firefighters said no casualties had been reported and no homes had been destroyed so far.
About 700 firefighters were battling the fire on land, supported by several water-dropping aircraft.
Flames reached 10 metres in some areas after the fire broke out around midday Wednesday.
The Le Porge mayor and a resident said the fire appeared to have been started by a brush-clearing machine, and police were looking into an accident as the cause.
The report includes accounts from evacuees and witnesses, and says hundreds of residents near the forest were among about 12,000 people evacuated.
Source note: AFP news report published on 23 July 2026 at 09:32:09 UTC.
Uncertainty notes
The duration of the evacuations is unclear.
Some evacuees said they did not know whether their homes had survived.
Authorities were preparing for a possible evacuation of Andernos, but the source did not say that the town had already been fully evacuated.
Source
AFP news report published on .