The health-hazardous smoke clouds from the Spanish and French fires had begun to merge in the atmosphere on Saturday, satellite images show.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called an emergency meeting, and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said “the fires are unprecedented.”
Firefighters are battling raging flames approaching the city of Bordeaux in the Gironde region.
"The wind has changed direction, so we were right to evacuate the residents last night. 32,700 hectares have burned and 140 houses are destroyed," said Sophie Brocas, prefect of Gironde, at a press conference on Saturday evening.
The area next to the city's airport has been evacuated, but the airport remains open.
The fires in Var in southeastern France earlier this week are still not completely extinguished.
Military support
Across France, almost 98,000 hectares have burned so far this year - equivalent to almost 75 percent of Öland's area.
The fires have killed two firefighters and injured 54, writes Le Figaro. The military is reinforcing the rescue services with 1,500 soldiers and A400M military aircraft, modified to carry water, in an operation that began on Saturday afternoon.
The only thing we really hope for is that the firefighters will be able to quickly get the situation under control, says Laurent Moretti, who lives in the town of Arès near Bordeaux.
The fires in both countries are not under control. In Spain, firefighting is described as complicated.
"Our priority, our thinking and our vision are for your lives, to save your lives and protect inhabited areas," said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, referring to the country's affected residents.
Temperatures are dropping in the Madrid region. The change in temperature is fundamentally positive for firefighting efforts, but makes it difficult to predict how strong the winds will be, according to Spanish authorities.
Major fire outside Madrid
Two of three major fire areas around Madrid and in the neighboring province of Ávila just outside the capital merged overnight Sunday, and the fire was described as “impossible to control” by local fire services.
Nearly 88,000 people have been forced to evacuate or stay indoors in quarantine, writes El País. According to the Interior Ministry, 60,000 have been evacuated.
45,000 hectares have been ravaged by fire in the area that stretches across the mountain vegetation northwest of Madrid. In total, more than 130,000 hectares have been ravaged by fire in Spain this year.
In another, smaller fire outside the coastal city of Valencia, one person has died.
Facts: Record year for fires in France and Spain
The fire season started unusually early in both France and Spain. Early and record-breaking heat waves and drought are cited as contributing factors.
In the first seven months of this year, a total of around 100,000 hectares of land have burned in France, according to the country's interior minister. This is the highest figure recorded by EFFIS, the European satellite monitoring system, and a figure that is rising rapidly.
The figure is already higher than the previous record year, 2022, when a total of about 66,000 hectares were consumed by the flames. The system has been in use since 2006.
Spain is also seeing new fire records. According to the country's environment minister, 32 forest fires have raged in the country so far this year, compared with just seven last year.
A total of over 130,000 hectares have burned, compared with 24,000 in 2025.
Source: BFMTV, AFP
