About 44,000 people were evacuated from France's Cap Ferret peninsula, while around 40,000 people in Spain's Madrid region were told to leave or stay indoors as wildfires spread.
Smoke and flames rise as a wildfire advances near La Adrada, Ávila province, Spain, Friday, Jul 24, 2026. (Photo: AP/Manu Fernandez)
25 Jul 2026 02:50AM
LÈGE-CAP-FERRET, France: Authorities ordered new mass evacuations Friday (Jul 24) - with some tourists escaping on boats - as wildfires raced through forests in southwest France and central Spain, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee or hole up indoors. Spain and France called in European Union help as flames whipped up by strong winds and boosted by drought tore through tinder-dry forests.Some 44,000 people left the up-market Cap Ferret peninsula south of Bordeaux on France's Atlantic coast, whose only road out was threatened by flames.Twenty-seven boats moved hundreds of people away from the fires on Friday, while others drove off the peninsula, known for its millionaire residences. More than 50 houses have been destroyed.About 40 of the 1,000 firefighters battling the Cap Ferret blaze have been injured, authorities said. Three firefighters have died in wildfires in France and Italy this week.Some 23,000 people were ordered out of homes and campsites farther south in the Landes region and another 8,000 were told to get away on Friday.In Spain, authorities said some 40,000 people in the Madrid region were told to evacuate or remain confined to their homes since Wednesday. A government official said more evacuations were possible.Two of the three major wildfires west of the capital had merged into one, threatening a suburban town, said officials."We are living through a dramatic situation, not only in various Spanish provinces but also in regions of neighbouring countries," said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
