A firefighter burns a plot of land to try to stop a wildfire from spreading near Louchats in Gironde, south-west France.
A firefighter burns a plot of land to try to stop a wildfire from spreading near Louchats in Gironde, south-west France.
Environment

10,000 evacuated as France battles raging wildfires, Macron requests EU support

ReutersFrance

A fast-moving wildfire has forced more than 10,000 people from homes and campsites near France's Atlantic coast, as extreme heat and deepening drought fuelled fires ​across Europe and scientists warned that climate change was worsening the continent's water shortages.

A wildfire burns in a forest area in the Gironde department amid worsening drought conditions following a heatwave and water shortages across much of France, July 22.

France has requested assistance from the European Union to help it deal with a major wildfire near the country's Atlantic coast, said President Emmanuel Macron on Friday.

"The situation remains extremely tense with the fires hitting our country, particularly in Gironde…France has requested the activation of the European Union's civil protection mechanism," wrote Macron on X.

French firefighters work to extinguish a wildfire in Cotignac, in the Var department, France, July 22.
Flames rise in the hills near the village of Cotignac, in the Var department, France, July 21.

Across Europe, three heatwaves in succession this season have intensified drought, strained water supplies and left vegetation tinder-dry, helping ‌ wildfires scorch more land already this year than the annual average of the past two decades on the world's fastest-warming continent. The heat has also been blamed for thousands of deaths.

Smoke and flames rise from a building during a wildfire in Lege-Cap-Ferret, July 23, 2026.

More than 10,000 people were evacuated overnight in southwestern France as a rapidly spreading wildfire ripped through at least 2,400 hectares of land west of the city of Bordeaux, officials said on Thursday.

A Canadair firefighting aircraft drops water to battle a wildfire in the Fox-Amphoux communal forest, France, July 21.
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