European Union officials have said wildfires could still be burning until early November in what threatens to be a record-breaking year for the area of land burned.
A series of heatwaves, including record-breaking temperatures in June that scientists say would have been impossible without the climate crisis, has left parched soils and tinder-dry vegetation that have fuelled this summer’s fires.
The EU executive has co-ordinated the dispatch of seven planes and four helicopters to France, as well as six planes and three forest firefighting teams to Spain, after the countries triggered the bloc’s emergency assistance mechanism. EU officials have also been sent to the Bordeaux region to assist local authorities.
Officials stressed the unprecedented nature of recent fires, which have spread rapidly over large areas. A European Commission official said that a recent fire in southern Spain that killed 13 people had reached speeds of 6km/h, while firefighters are able to react only to fires moving 300/h or less.
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The scale of Europe’s wildfires has raised questions about the continent’s ability to respond. Italy is among about 10 European countries that have sent firefighting equipment or teams to France and Spain while grappling with its own blazes.
The commission’s lead official on the green transition, Teresa Ribera, said Europe is unprepared for the consequences of the climate crisis.
In an interview with El País, she said the commission would propose an adaptation strategy in October that would be much more comprehensive than policies implemented so far.
Meanwhile, firefighters in France and Spain are racing to bring huge wildfires under control before another heatwave this week that will complicate efforts to tame the flames.
Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said Monday and Tuesday were “absolutely crucial days” before temperatures rise again from Wednesday.
A fire in the hilly terrain of Ávila, west of Madrid, has become Spain’s largest on record, burning 50,000 hectares. Authorities are battling two separate fires northwest of Madrid, taking the total area of scorched land near the capital to 70,000 hectares.
France was also in “a race against time” to control fires before another heatwave this week, said Eric Brocardi, a fire service spokesman. Weather forecasters have said temperatures could reach 40 degrees in some parts of the country from Tuesday.
This would complicate efforts to control the wildfire in Gironde, southwest France, which interior minister Laurent Nuñez described as “extremely intense and unpredictable ... generating its own winds and advancing erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area.”
The Gironde fire has so far burned 42,000 hectares, making it one of the biggest devastations of land in France since the second World War.
In the Cestas commune, about 17km from the city of Bordeaux, firefighters used mechanical diggers to uproot trees in an attempt to create a firewall.
The vast fire, which has triggered the evacuation of 220,000 people, had not progressed during the early hours of Monday but was “not contained” and remained “very complicated to control”, said Nuñez.
Speaking after an emergency meeting of the French government on Monday, he described this year’s fires as “completely exceptional”. More than 116,000 hectares of forest and vegetation have been burned since January, far exceeding the 70,000 hectares reported for the whole of 2025.
Spain’s government said the 172,000 hectares of forested land burned this year was six times greater than the equivalent figure for 2025.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez told a climate conference the wildfires were not isolated incidents. “It is the most painful manifestation of a climate emergency that is making ... wildfires more voracious and heatwaves more frequent,” he said. “It is no longer an exception. It is the rule.” – Guardian
