France and England battle multiple wildfires as record heat grips Europe
An aerial view shows a group of firedamaged houses, south of Stourbridge town centre in central England on Aug. 14, 2026.
Firefighters across France and in central England struggled against multiple fires on Aug. 14 as a new wave of record-breaking heat baked a swath of Europe, their task further complicated by exceptionally parched landscapes.
With France experiencing its driest year ever, a new fire raced through woodlands overnight in the Landes region on the southwest coast. The blaze forced more than 500 people to evacuate their homes in the town of Luglon as hundreds of firefighters deployed to the area, the regional administration said on Aug. 14.
It’s one of several fires scorching forests around France this week, including in normally cooler and wetter regions in the north and Brittany. A historic fire devoured forests near Bordeaux last month and pushed a quarter of a million people from their homes.
