Here's the latest
• Mass evacuations: More than 300,000 people have been displaced by climate-change driven wildfires in France and Spain after new evacuation orders were issued. Temperatures are forecast to rise this week, especially in the most-affected regions. Fires are also burning in other parts of Europe. CNN is mapping the fire activity.
• Huge response: Around 7,000 people are being sheltered in Bordeaux, in France’s largest evacuation since WWII. Firefighters in Spain are battling to prevent two wildfires west of the capital Madrid from merging.
• Climate crisis: The fires come in a year when Europe has seen far more land burnt than usual, according to forest fire data. It is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing more than twice as fast as the global average.
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Residents of French town return to find devastation and destroyed homes
Residents of one village in the Gironde region of France returned to find their homes charred and destroyed by the wildfire which has ripped through them.
“Everything burned down,” one resident Mathieu Plessis told CNN affiliate BFMTV, standing in front of his blackened, burnt-out house. “It was my ancestors’ house, my grandmother was born in this house. We are devastated. In Le Porge, we have lost everything.”
All that is left are three chickens and a few fish which managed to survive the fire.
French authorities said last night that 140 homes in the Gironde region have been destroyed by the wildfire, though that number could rise once it is possible to return to all the affected areas.
Le Porge is a town of about 3,000 inhabitants situated close to the Atlantic coast. Much of the ground there has turned black with ash and many cars have been reduced to empty shells of twisted metal. It is almost unrecognizable from the small, quintessentially French town that existed before.
The random nature of the destruction caused by wildfires means that not every house burnt down.
“To put it simply, we feel that everything our forebears left us – all the work they accomplished – is being reduced to nothing,” he added.
Europe's wet winter could have fueled summer wildfires
An abnormally wet winter in Europe — with long-lasting rain and frequent storms in January and February — is likely a factor in the wildfires.
The high moisture during winter would have spurred growth in grasses, brush and other vegetation. Then temperatures turned record-hot in Western Europe in May, just as France and Spain’s precipitation fell off a cliff, leading to drought.
Because the rain stopped at the exact same time temperatures surged, the moist soils dried out at unprecedented speeds. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as a “flash drought,” or one that takes hold very fast.
Research shows the warming effect of climate pollution has significantly increased the frequency and extent of flash droughts in Europe. The hotter atmosphere acts like a dry sponge that greedily soaks up soil moisture, creating the drought that fuels wildfires.
More residents evacuated overnight, taking total displaced to more than 300,000
French and Spanish authorities issued further evacuation orders overnight, taking the total number of people displaced to 300,000.
In France’s Gironde region, another 55,000 were evacuated from some towns surrounding Bordeaux, taking the total who have now left their homes there to more than 220,000, according to authorities.
At least 68 firefighters have been injured while battling the blaze, they said.
And in Spain, some towns much further west than the other areas affected were evacuated, the country’s interior ministry said. It’s unclear how many people that operation involved, but Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE reported this morning that more than 100,000 people have been evacuated due to the wildfires so far.
Meanwhile, in France’s Landes region, 3,000 residents were allowed to return to some neighborhoods in the town of Biscarrosse, state authorities said.
France and Spain set to heat up further, with no rain in sight
Temperatures in France and Spain show no sign of easing, holding steady on Sunday and expected to soar as high as 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit) next week, according to local meteorologists.
Forecasts indicate no rain in Spain’s Ávila and Madrid regions, or in France’s Gironde region, which have been ravaged by wildfires in recent days.
Madrid: Forecasters predict highs today of 31 degrees Celsius (88 degrees Fahrenheit) for the region, similar to yesterday, and clear, sunny skies. Temperatures are set to rise in the coming days, reaching 39 C on Wednesday. Wind speeds could reach up to 20 kilometers per hour. No rain is expected until Thursday, when there is only a 5% chance, according to Spain’s state meteorological agency AEMET.
Ávila: Residents can expect highs of 27 degrees Celsius (81 degrees Fahrenheit) on Sunday, rising to 35 C on Tuesday and Wednesday. Sunday’s wind speeds are forecast to reach up to 15 km/h and rain forecasts match those of Madrid.
Bordeaux: Highs of 27 degrees Celsius (81 degrees Fahrenheit) with clear skies and occasional clouds Sunday, according to the official Météo-France forecast. Winds may reach up to 20 km/h, and there is a zero percent chance of rain. Temperatures are set to climb as high as 42 C by Wednesday, the website shows.
In pictures: Spain and France battle wildfires
Spain and France are among the hardest-hit areas as wildfires rip through southwest Europe. Hundreds of thousands of residents have been evacuated as firefighters battle to contain the blazes.
Track the fire activity in Europe here.
Wildfires rage over Europe overnight. Here's the latest
Huge wildfires are ripping across parts of Europe, fueled partly by climate change-driven heat waves.
Hundreds of thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate some of the hardest-hit areas in France and Spain, while wildfires also rage in parts of Italy and the UK. At least one person in Valencia, Spain, has died.
The wildfires in France and Spain are unrelenting, with over 250,000 evacuees. That number seems to be increasing, as the fires continue to spread and authorities in France order more evacuations.
The fires come amid record-breaking heatwaves on the continent.
Last month, France and Germany both recorded their hottest-ever days. Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising more than twice as fast as the global average.
Here’s the latest:
- Communities uprooted: More than 250,000 people have been evacuated in France and Spain as wildfires sweep southwest Europe. Families and the elderly are among those waiting in shelters for word on when they might return home. The fires have spread thick smoke and disrupted daily life, including at the Tour de France.
- All hands on deck: In Spain, firefighters are working to prevent two fires near Madrid from merging. French authorities issued new evacuation orders in Gironde late Saturday as around 30 fires burned simultaneously in the southwest, with thousands of personnel deployed to contain them.
- Aid comes in: Germany’s leader announced aid for French regions affected by the wildfires, and Spanish media reported teams from Greece, Italy and Portugal were helping to fight the blazes.
- Elsewhere in Europe: Other parts of Europe were ablaze this week, including in Germany, Italy, Romania and the UK. CNN is mapping the fire activity.
- What officials are saying: France’s prime minister warned that the coming hours “may be difficult” as conditions change on the ground. Spain’s interior minister echoed the concern, saying that “the night is not going to be easy” and weather conditions “have not helped at all,” according to Spanish media.
CNN’s Pierre Bairin and Tori B. Powell contributed reporting.
Mapping the wildfires across Europe
The wildfires in parts of Spain and France have been among the most devastating, but they are far from the only blazes burning in Europe right now. Here’s a zoomed-out look at fire activity this week:
Bordeaux wine expert: 2026 vintage is safe for now
As wildfires burn west of Bordeaux, one of France’s most famous wine-producing regions, concerned oenophiles have called wine expert Nicolle Croft to voice concern over the fate of 2026 vintage.
“A lot of people are contacting me from around the world hearing all these terrible stories, but actually the vineyards are not impacted at the moment,” Croft, a tour guide based in Bordeaux, told CNN. “But we’re all very upset because there are people losing homes.”
Croft said at this time of year, the grapes aren’t yet large enough to absorb wildfire smoke – a phenomenon known in winemaking as “smoke taint.”
“We won’t be harvesting until the beginning of September,” Croft said, “so there’s still time.”
Dr. Phil Crews, a winemaker and chemist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, explained that unripe grapes aren’t as vulnerable to smoke taint. Young grapes lack sugars that would otherwise bind with bitter-tasting phenols in wildfire smoke.
What it's like on the front lines of the firefight in eastern Spain
Firefighters in the eastern Castellón province of Spain shared video of the leaping flames they’re facing as they work to extinguish one of the blazes ripping through parts of Europe this weekend.
In a post on X, fire officials shared video from the town of La Vall d’Uixó and urged residents not to try to access the area.
The scene at a shelter for fire evacuees in Bordeaux
Two hundred thousand people have been evacuated from their homes in France’s Gironde and Landes regions as wildfires continue to burn out of control. Around 7,000 are being sheltered at a massive exhibition center in Bordeaux, which is itself shrouded in smoke carried into the city by shifting winds.
People taking shelter at the center include retirement home evacuees and many families with children.
Many of those now sleeping on cots with their children and pets were woken in their homes west of Bordeaux in the early hours of Friday by emergency text alerts on their phones, telling them to evacuate immediately.
They have no prospect of returning home anytime soon.
At a nearby folding table, Christophe explained how he was first woken by the emergency alert, before police officers climbed over his wall at 6 a.m. and banged on his door. He insisted on checking on his neighbors, both well into their nineties, but, he explained, that took time.
“I had a bag ready,” he said, “but they had nothing prepared, so we had to gather their belongings and their medication because they’re diabetic.”
Christophe is impressed by the logistics of what officials describe as the largest evacuation France has seen since World War II.
