Wildfire now nine miles away from the French city of Bordeaux, mayor warns
The mayor of Bordeaux, Thomas Cazenave, has said he is bracing for “all eventualities” as a blaze in the Gironde region moves closer to the city. He is preparing for a large‑scale evacuation should the situation worsen.
French interior minister Laurent Nuñez has described the wildfire as “unprecedented” and compared it to a fire that “has a life of its own.” The blaze is already part of a wave of fires that has forced about 220,000 people to evacuate across France and more than 100,000 across Spain.
The heatwave that rolled in on Tuesday further hampers firefighting efforts, with temperatures climbing from 32°C to 40°C across the southwest. Hot, dry conditions are feeding the flames and making containment harder.
Jerome Steffe, the mayor of Cestas, a town south of Bordeaux, recently described the smoke as “the fire of the century.” He said 17,000 residents were evacuated at night only two days ago, and since then, the region has seen 42,000 hectares (103,000 acres) of land burned and 240 houses destroyed.
In Cestas, the firefighters have spent most of their energy creating protective firebreaks, but the threat remains for flying embers or a sudden wind shift. The mayor admitted that the area is “all scared” in front of the situation.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu warned that France was experiencing “an unprecedented fire season.” In a post on X, he noted that 116,085 hectares (286,852 acres) have already burned and 13,566 fire starts were recorded since January.
Lecornu said nine out of ten fires were human‑caused, stemming from careless acts such as cigarettes, barbecues or unprotected work. He also acknowledged that not all fires are accidents and highlighted 162 arrests since 6 July for deliberate acts.
President Emmanuel Macron has visited several fire‑ravaged areas in Gironde to lift the spirits of firefighters and support the recovery effort.
Wildfires are also spreading in other French regions, including Var, Landes, and a rapidly expanding blaze on the island of Corsica. Events in Spain west of Madrid have entered the fifth day of a nationally declared emergency, with more than 27,000 hectares burned and a village turned into a “car cemetery.”
