More than 300,000 displaced in France and Spain as exhausted firefighters battle wildfires

July 26, 2026 / 6:58 AM EDT

/ CBS/AP

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Fire crews in France and Spain continued to battle raging wildfires that have forced the evacuation of more than 300,000 people in the two countries.Authorities in France's Gironde region, where the wine region city of Bordeaux is located, issued overnight evacuation orders for five more localities as shifting winds and arid conditions complicated the massive effort to limit the spread of the monster blaze. The evacuation operation now ranks among the biggest seen since World War II, authorities said, with more than 250,000 people ordered out of the danger zone in one region alone.

A firefighter of the Paris Fire Brigade strikes the smoldering debris with a shovel in Marcheprime west of Bordeaux on July 26, 2026, as a wildfire has been ravaging the forest north of the Arcachon Basin (Gironde) since July 22.