Wildfires kill three firefighters and force evacuations in Italy, France and Spain

Wildfires burned on Wednesday in Sicily, southwestern France and central Spain, killing three firefighters and forcing thousands of people to leave threatened areas.

In Sicily, temperatures rose above 40C and hot winds helped spread fires that had been burning for several days. Renato Schifani, the head of the region, said about 6,000 firefighters, forest guards and civil protection officials were fighting the flames with help from water-bombing aircraft. He said 50 fires were still burning.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said a firefighter died after falling ill while fighting the fires. A spokesperson for Italy's Civil Protection Agency said the situation in Sicily was serious and that the fires were being fed by very high temperatures and very dry soil.

More than 160 fires were also recorded in Calabria, next to Sicily. The head of local civil protection said those fires were deliberate arson by malicious individuals, including cases in which rags soaked in flammable liquid had been tied to the tails of stray cats to spread flames.

In France, two firefighters died on Tuesday while fighting a blaze near Bordeaux airport. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez met their families on Wednesday, while unions warned that firefighters were facing exhaustion and a lack of resources.

Two large fires displaced thousands of people in southwestern France. One fire burned more than 1,400 hectares in the Arcachon Basin area near Bordeaux. Firefighter Captain Wilfried Schneider said crews were dealing with dense, closely packed pines and described the fire's intensity as rare.

Residents in and near Le Porge described heavy smoke, heat and dry forest conditions. Mayor Martial Zaninetti said the fire may have been started by a machine used to clear a forest track, but this had not been officially confirmed. The prefecture said about 700 people left their homes as a precaution in Le Porge and more than 3,000 campers were relocated.

Another fire in southern France's Var region was being contained earlier Wednesday, officials said. It broke out on Tuesday, spread quickly through wooded hills, forced about 400 people to evacuate and burned 2,550 hectares. Nearly 1,000 firefighters and specialised water aircraft worked on the fire in the region between Marseille and Nice.

In total, 4,600 people have been evacuated in France, and Gironde Prefect Sophie Brocas called for hundreds more to leave.

In Spain, authorities ordered several districts around Toledo, south of Madrid, to evacuate on Wednesday after a major wildfire threatened homes. The Civil Guard said emergency alerts were sent to residents by phone and several main roads were closed. Emergency services said three villages had been ordered evacuated because of the fire's advance, while people in a fourth village were told to stay indoors with doors and windows closed until further notice.

The Toledo fire spread as hundreds of firefighters fought another major wildfire about 100 kilometres north of Madrid, which had burned 32,000 hectares. According to the European Forest Fire Information System, more than 393,000 hectares burned in Spain in 2025, the worst toll in the country's recent history.

Scientists agree that human-caused climate change from burning fossil fuels is making extreme weather events such as fires and heatwaves more likely and more severe.