Live: Macron holds crisis meeting as French wildfires force more than 250,000 to evacuate
France 24 · LC · trust 71/100
By: FRANCE 24 To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.
One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.
Wildfires were still burning in the provinces of Avila and Madrid, Spain, on Monday, July 27, with reports saying that the fires burning in Avila were the largest in the country’s recent history. Spain declared a national emergency on Friday due to the fires.
Spain faces a "decisive" two days to control and contain wildfires that have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate before temperatures rise, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said Monday.
"Today and tomorrow are absolutely decisive days, because from Wednesday the weather forecasts become highly unfavourable for firefighting efforts," he told reporters.
French President Emmanuel Macron called a crisis meeting Monday focusing on monster, uncontrolled wildfires that have forced more than 250,000 people to flee their homes, amid a first glimmer of hope that the spread of the largest blaze may have slowed. FRANCE 24's James André reports.
Wildfires that have ravaged areas west of Madrid "slowed their advance" during the night although they remain a threat, the regional government said Monday.
"The situation has improved slightly, but the fire is still active," the Madrid regional government said in a statement, urging residents to remain "extremely cautious".
The wildfires hitting the area around Bordeaux in southwestern France have been delivered a shock to the regional economy, French finance minister Roland Lescure on Monday.
"It's like a clap of thunder for an area which could have done without this," Lescure told reporters.
Spanish authorities said they planned to start to allow some people evacuated from wildfires near Madrid to return on Monday, in a sign of progress in fighting some of the worst forest fires in the country's history.
Francisco Martin Aguirre, a government delegate for the Madrid region, told reporters late Sunday that authorities planned to reopen a campsite where 4,500 people had been evacuated and also allow elderly residents back home in another area.
Some 115,000 hectares (284,000 acres) have burned in wildfires in France since the start of the year, "far more than anything we have seen in the past", Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said Sunday.
France is currently battling 30 to 40 wildfires daily, Nunez told France 2 television. Conditions remained "very unfavourable" on major fronts, including the southwestern regions of Gironde and Landes, and in the Mediterranean Var region.
A total of 2,500 firefighters, including a Swiss firefighting team, 1,500 military personnel and around 1,200 police have been deployed to Gironde, Nunez said earlier.
French President Emmanuel Macron will chair a crisis cabinet meeting Monday morning to discuss the wildfires ravaging several areas of southwest France, his office said.
In France, the prefect of the southwestern Gironde region and where the country's fires are concentrated, urged tourists to stay away and seek "other destinations".
"The wind is changing so much, it's really the fire calling the shots. We just have to go with it," a firefighter said.
Around 220,000 people have been evacuated in the region, with 45 campsites forced to shut, ruining the holiday plans of around 40,000 people.
The Gironde local authority said early Monday it had banned holiday camps, including Scouts' trips involving overnight stays and holiday camps for people with disabilities.
As wildfires continue to ravage southwest France, forcing around 250,000 people from their homes in one of the country's biggest peacetime evacuations, FRANCE 24's Luke Shrago has witnessed the crisis unfold firsthand. He joined us to share what he's seen on the ground.
A massive wildfire in France's Gironde department, home to Bordeaux, remained "broadly stable overnight," the local authority said Monday.
"The situation remained broadly stable overnight, with no major developments. Security and emergency services remain fully mobilised and are continuing their operations on the ground," the local authority said in a statement.
Welcome to this live coverage of the fires in Europe.
Bordeaux under threat as France and Spain battle 'unprecedented' wildfires Europe Wildfires have scorched 115,000 hectares across France this year, interior minister says As it happened Europe Most read
© 2026 Copyright France 24 - All rights reserved. France 24 is not responsible for the content of external websites. Audience ratings certified by ACPM. ACPM
Read the original at France 24 →
Open in TruthVane →