Le Porge (France) (AFP) – Flames roared through crackling pine trees on Thursday as a wildfire gained ground on the coast of southwestern France, forcing more than 20,000 tourists and residents to flee to safety.
Issued on: 23/07/2026 - 15:52
3 min Reading time
France has been battered by three heatwaves since May as part of increasingly common extreme weather episodes linked to climate change, causing excess deaths, drying up rivers and fuelling wildfires.The blaze in Le Porge, just south of Medoc wine country, had ripped through 3,100 hectares -- an area four and a half times the size of Gibraltar -- since Wednesday, firefighters said.An isolated home was destroyed but no casualties have been reported, state official Sophie Brocas said.The authorities said they had evacuated 12,000 residents and tourists from campsites and holiday lets late on Wednesday, then a further 8,800 from more camping sites on Thursday.Skies in the coastal village of Le Porge, near the city of Bordeaux, were orange early on Thursday morning.Wisps of smoke rose from charred or crackling tree trunks between Le Porge and the village of Lege-Cap-Ferret to the south, AFP journalists said.Helicopters made repeated runs over houses with shuttered windows, and fire engines tore up and down the road.
