Fire crews in Lège‑Cap Ferret, France, fought a megafire covering four times the area of Paris in southwest France, confronting forecasted temperatures exceeding 40 °C (104 °F) on Wednesday.
The heat wave and predicted winds threaten to slow containment, as the fire has displaced 220,000 residents from the Gironde region surrounding Bordeaux, according to regional authorities.
A Wednesday morning briefing from Gironde officials reported a relatively calm night, with the fire not having spread further despite remaining uncontained for a week.
The arrival of heat‑wave temperatures combined with strong winds increased the risk of the fire flaring up again.
On Tuesday, Gironde authorities ordered the evacuation of an additional 4,000 people from coastal tourist sites along the Atlantic, expanding what could be France’s largest peacetime evacuation.
Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas noted on Tuesday evening that the situation is still complex, but she permitted the return of 60,000 evacuees to their homes in three Bordeaux suburbs that have not yet burned.
The contradictory actions — thousands being expelled from coastal resorts while others are permitted to return — highlight the lingering fragility of the fire’s containment.
Across France and Spain, roughly 330,000 people have been displaced by massive wildfires. Spain is facing its fourth heat wave of the summer, with several uncontrolled blazes, including the largest ever recorded in the country.
Nonetheless, Spanish authorities have begun lifting evacuation and stay‑at‑home orders for thousands of residents as firefighters make headway.
At its peak intensity, the Gironde blaze formed a massive, electrically charged black thundercloud that produced lightning, violent winds, and new spot fires beyond the main front — a phenomenon known as pyrocumulonimbus, which was first documented in France.
According to the French Interior Ministry, more than 1,160 km² (448 sq mi) have burned across France this year.
The European Union’s Copernicus climate service reports that Europe is warming at more than twice the global average, making it the world’s fastest‑warming continent. Western Europe experienced its hottest June on record, with extreme heat and widespread dryness accelerating fire spread and intensification across France and Spain.