Ninety Thousand People Flee Raging Wildfires in France and Spain

Huge wildfires ripped through parts of France and Spain on Friday, forcing about 92,000 people to leave their homes. The fires burned out of control in southwestern France and near the Spanish capital of Madrid. Hot, dry weather and strong winds made the blazes very hard for firefighters to stop. No deaths were reported in either country, but dozens of firefighters were hurt.

In France, a fire near the Cap Ferret peninsula had already burned about 48 square miles since Wednesday. Cap Ferret is a popular vacation spot on France's Atlantic coast, just 37 miles from the city of Bordeaux. It is known for sandy beaches, oyster farms, and fancy resorts. When flames swept through the area, some people had to escape by boat instead of by road.

Around 67,000 people in France were told to leave their homes as firefighters struggled to stop the fire from spreading further south. More than 20,000 people had already been evacuated on Thursday, and new evacuations continued on Friday. Boats called water taxis carried about 1,500 people across the water to the city of Arcachon. Local officials said 53 homes and a campsite were destroyed, and 42 firefighters were injured.

Hundreds of French firefighters were sent to fight the blaze, along with aircraft and ground vehicles. A second, separate wildfire also broke out further south along the coast, burning another 10 square miles. That fire was not yet contained, and strong winds were making things worse. French President Emmanuel Macron said the country would receive help from other European Union nations, including firefighting aircraft from Croatia, Portugal, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

In Spain, the government declared a national emergency because of wildfires for the very first time. Fires near Madrid and the nearby province of Ávila forced about 25,000 people to leave their homes. A dangerous heat wave pushed temperatures above 102 degrees Fahrenheit in some parts of Spain, which helped the fires spread quickly. Two large fires near Madrid merged into one single blaze, which burned 11.5 square miles by Friday afternoon.

Madrid's regional president called it the worst wildfire in the city's history. Officials said they were especially focused on protecting the town of San Lorenzo, home to a famous 16th-century royal palace built by King Philip II. Italy and Greece each sent two water-dumping airplanes to help Spanish firefighters. Another 20,000 people in towns west of Madrid were ordered to stay indoors.

A separate fire in the province of Ávila burned 34 square miles and forced another 1,500 people to flee. Spain's Civil Guard arrested one man and was investigating another for using heavy machinery in an area where it was banned because of fire risk. Police believed a spark from the machinery started the fire on Thursday. One local mayor said he had never seen anything like it in his 60 years of living in the area.

Spain has had a devastating fire season so far this year. About 440 square miles of land had already burned, which is more than five times the amount that burned in the first half of 2025. Firefighters were still working to put out Spain's second-largest fire ever, which had destroyed around 120 square miles over the past week. Earlier in the month, 13 people were killed in a fire in southern Spain, making it the deadliest blaze the country had seen in recent memory.

Spain's prime minister called on all political parties to work together to fight climate change, saying it is key to handling a future with more wildfires. Spain has seen record-high temperatures in recent summers, and forest fires have been getting bigger and more dangerous. Scientists say hotter, drier weather linked to climate change makes wildfires more likely and harder to control. The events in France and Spain this week showed just how serious that threat has become.