July 27, 2026 / 6:03 AM EDT
/ CBS/AP
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French President Emmanuel Macron called a crisis meeting Monday focusing on monster, uncontrolled wildfires that have forced more than 250,000 people to flee their homes, amid a first glimmer of hope that the spread of the largest blaze may have slowed. In the Gironde region of southwest France, where flames have burned an area four times the size of Paris, the prefecture said the situation overnight had remained "globally stable" - a change from previous days when the giant blaze raging since last week had edged closer to the wine region city of Bordeaux. In the adjacent southwestern Landes region, where hundreds of firefighters have been making progress against another virulent but smaller fire, the prefecture said some rain fell overnight and described the conditions as "favorable" for firefighting but also cautioned that they could change. No new evacuations were announced. But with France about to enter its peak August tourist season, Gironde authorities took more steps to keep vacationers away, banning holiday camps for children and for people with disabilities. On the ground and in the air, with water- and retardant-dropping aircraft, the massive firefighting effort was engaged in a race against time, battling to make progress before a forecast surge in temperatures from Tuesday that could make fighting flames more difficult.
