France mobilises European, international support to fight wildfires
France has mobilised extensive national and international resources to tackle the massive Gironde wildfire and growing fire risks across the country. More than 3,300 firefighters, alongside military personnel and police, are deployed in Gironde, while 72 reinforcement units have been sent nationwide, including crews from France's overseas territories.
The country has also activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism for the first time since 24 July, receiving support from European partners as well as bilateral assistance.
France's aerial firefighting fleet includes Canadair aircraft, Dash water bombers, helicopters and, for the first time, an Airbus A400M used to drop fire retardant. European aircraft and helicopters from countries including Portugal, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Croatia and Sweden have reinforced operations in Gironde, while additional assets have been deployed to other fire-hit regions.
Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Ukraine and Israel have also offered or provided bilateral assistance, underscoring the scale of the international response.
Firefighters in eastern England make 'progress' battling 'dynamic' wildfire
Firefighters in eastern England were "making good progress" Thursday battling a "dynamic" wildfire which has engulfed swathes of heathland and prompted the evacuation of dozens of residents and visitors, local officials said.
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said the blaze at Dunwich Heath, near England's east coast, had grown to cover around 150 hectares (370 acres) – the size of approximately 210 football pitches.
It follows a period of exceptionally dry and hot weather, which has left Wales and more than half of England in drought and contributed to once-rare wildfires breaking out in different places.
Changing wind conditions were making the blaze's spread unpredictable, said the Suffolk service, but London's fire service was sending six fire engines to join 18 fire engines and 120 firefighters already at the scene.
The service, which is responsible for the sprawling rural county northeast of London, said it expected the response to continue for at least the next 48 hours.
Wildfires in France: Convergence of climate change and historical landscape engineering
FRANCE 24 speaks to Melissa Sterry, Scientist, Designer, Strategist and Founding Director of Panarchic Codex® : Design for Living with Wildfire. Sterry reframes wildfire as a systemic phenomenon: climate change intensifies heat and drought, nineteenth century land engineering has produced highly combustible plantation forests, and expanding human activity increases ignition opportunities. Once these factors align, fires can evolve into autonomous systems that generate their own weather and even create new ignition sources.
While Sterry praises France's emergency response, she contends that prevention and firefighting alone cannot solve the problem. The real challenge lies in redesigning landscapes before fires gain momentum, shifting policy from reacting to disasters towards preventing them through long-term ecological resistance and resilience.
Wildfire in French department of Landes 'under control'
The wildfire that broke out a week ago near Biscarrosse in the southwestern department of Landes was "under control", Prefect Gilles Clavreul said at a press briefing on Thursday evening. "All neighbourhoods will reopen and traffic will resume," he added.
The blaze, which came on top of the massive wildfire in neighbouring Gironde, has burned 3,600 hectares and prompted the precautionary evacuation of around 30,000 people.
Three of EU's 15 largest wildfires since 2016 occurred in July
Three wildfires that broke out within days of each other in Spain and France this month are among the 15 largest recorded in the European Union since 2016.
The largest wildfire in Spain's recent history broke out in the province of Avila, west of Madrid, on July 22. The blaze, which is still burning, has already scorched almost 44,000 hectares (109,000 acres), according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), making it the sixth-largest wildfire recorded in the EU over the past decade.
A wildfire that broke out in the Guadalajara province, east of Madrid, is now the 14th-largest recorded in the EU since 2016, with more than 33,000 hectares burned.
France also entered the record books this month, with the country's largest wildfire since 1949 burning near Bordeaux since July 22, although it is now considered to be "stabilised". The blaze is the eighth-largest fire in the EU over the last 10 years, having destroyed more than 38,000 hectares (94,000 acres), according to EFFIS, which relies on satellite imagery analysis.
'First somewhat optimistic day' in southwest France since outbreak of fire, official says
Fire-ravaged southwestern France experienced its "first somewhat optimistic day" on Thursday since wildfires broke out more than a week ago, a senior local official said.
"It is the first somewhat optimistic day, because we have the feeling that we are beginning to return to normal life and that things are starting to improve significantly," said the prefect, Sophie Brocas.
Von der Leyen says EU 'preparing further support' as Greece battles wildfires
In a post on X, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Thursday expressed her condolences for the three firefighters who died in the line of duty in Greece on Wednesday and said the EU was "preparing further support".
Southern Europe 'becoming more flammable' in hotter climate, experts say
Southern Europe is "becoming more flammable" with the number of summer days primed for extreme fire conditions more than doubling since 1981, a new study found on Thursday.
Scientists said the "major intensification" of fire-prone weather was driven by climate change and especially pronounced in France and Spain, which have been battling some of their largest blazes since records began.
There were fewer fires today compared to the 1980s but more extreme and fast-spreading infernos, said the study, which assessed national wildfire statistics and weather and climate data.
The steep increase in the frequency of fire weather – characterised by searing temperatures, low humidity, dryness, and strong winds – "can only be attributed to global warming," said study co-author Raul Cordero.
"The number of days where the fire weather index is extreme have nearly tripled in some areas of southern Europe," Cordero, an atmospheric scientist from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, told AFP.
France wildfires: Risk remains 'extremely high' despite slight weather improvement
France's wildfire risk remains "extremely high" despite a slight improvement in weather conditions, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Thursday, citing persistent drought and fast-spreading blazes across the country.
Nunez said higher humidity and weaker winds had helped conditions, but authorities still dealt with 26 fires nationwide on Wednesday alone, warning that vegetation remained highly combustible.
Wildfire in eastern England poses no threat to nearby Sizewell nuclear sites, operators say
A wildfire in eastern England, one of the largest the region has seen, was not affecting nearby nuclear facilities and was not expected to spread towards them, fire officials and operators said on Thursday.
The facilities are French utility EDF's Sizewell B nuclear power station, which generates electricity, and Sizewell C, a new nuclear plant under construction. The wildfire was a few miles north of the sites.
Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said it had increased its response and described the blaze at Dunwich Heath on England's east coast as one of the most challenging incidents in the county's history.
Turkey confronts growing wildfires on tourist coasts
Hundreds of Turkish firefighters on Thursday battled to contain wildfires spreading near key tourist regions on the country's Mediterranean coast.
Authorities expressed particular concern over fires around the city of Antalya and the Aegean sea resorts of Fethiye, where flames gathered new strength on Thursday, and Ayvalik.
TRT public television showed a man carrying his sheep on his shoulders away from one fire.
The national forestry office said firefighters had intensified the battle started Wednesday outside Fethiye where strong winds had reignited the flames.
Firefighters battle to contain deadly Crete blaze in Greece
Hundreds of firefighters on Thursday battled to contain a wildfire on the Greek island of Crete that forced thousands of evacuations after killing two firemen.
The fire south of the city of Rethymno, in the island's southwest, had forced officials to evacuate some 8,000 people overnight as it threatened the village resort of Agia Galini.
Although the situation was improving Thursday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned of "difficult days" ahead as the summer heat persists.
Yiannis Tatarakis, mayor of the main outlying village of Agios Vassilios, said the Agia Galini resorts had reopened and visitors had been allowed to return.
French official urges collective global action on climate change
FRANCE 24 speaks to French Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Éléonore Caroit. She frames France's response to unprecedented heatwaves and wildfires through three lenses: crisis management, international solidarity, and climate governance.
Caroit distinguishes between the immediate demands of emergency response and the longer term structural challenges posed by climate change, including adaptation, infrastructure resilience, and urban planning.
While arguing that governments must continually strengthen preparedness and invest in prevention and adaptation, she maintains that domestic policy must be matched by sustained international climate cooperation, making collective global engagement an essential component of both disaster response and long term climate resilience.
How native livestock is reducing the risk of wildfires in Spain's Galicia region
In Spain's Galicia region, native goats, sheep, and cows are helping local communities reduce the risk of wildfires by grazing on flammable undergrowth.The initiative has gained momentum in an area hit hard by Spain's worst wildfire year in 2025, where nearly 119,00 hectares of land burned, an area spanning roughly double the size of Madrid.
The animals include the Cachena, a native goat-like cow known for its ability to forage widely and traverse the region's mountainous terrain.
Spain wildfire near Portugal border burns 11,000 hectares, mayor says
A new wildfire in western Spain near the Portuguese border has burned 11,000 hectares in 24 hours, a local mayor told AFP.
The mayor of Fermoselle, where the fire started on Wednesday, said the village faced "hell" and a "tunnel of flame" in the blaze, which follows days of larger wildfires west of Madrid. Emergency services said 800 people were evacuated from the path of the new blaze.
Volunteers race to save pets left behind by France's wildfires
As thousands fled the wildfires that have devastated south-west France, many were forced to leave their animals behind. In the Gironde town of Lège-Cap-Ferret, volunteers are going door to door feeding stranded pets, from cats and dogs to rabbits and tortoises, after desperate owners appealed for help on social media.
The emergency animal rescue brigade has already made hundreds of visits, while charities and local authorities have broken into homes and kennels with owners' permission to free trapped animals before the flames reached them.
The toll on wildlife is expected to be far greater. With more than 42,000 hectares of forest destroyed, officials warn of catastrophic losses among reptiles, amphibians and insects, while surviving deer and other animals are emerging injured, dehydrated and disoriented from the scorched landscape.
Volunteers recently rescued a badly burned fawn whose legs had been charred to the bone, underscoring the hidden cost of one of France's worst wildfire seasons.
French interior minister says wildfire situation still 'quite complicated'
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the "situation is still quite complicated" as wildfires continued to burn after a crisis meeting Thursday in Paris.
Regarding the giant wildfires that have spread in Gironde region, Nunez said the blaze has been stabilised but not yet contained. Carys Garland reports.
George and Amal Clooney flee French home due to wildfire
Hollywood star George Clooney and his human rights lawyer wife Amal have evacuated their French home near the southeastern town of Brignoles after a fast-moving wildfire broke out nearby, authorities said Thursday.
The Clooneys, who have nine-year-old twins, own the Domaine du Canadel, an estate near Brignoles which includes a 18th-century manor house, a pond, a swimming pool, and vineyards, set within a 170-hectare (420-acre) property.
In a letter to the mayor of Brignoles quoted by People magazine, the couple said they had no idea whether their home would survive the fire that broke out Wednesday evening. The mayor said the celebrity couple were not required to evacuate but chose to leave the property as a precaution.
Fire detectives hunt for the spark behind wildfires in France
As record heat and drought fuel devastating wildfires across France, specialist investigators are racing to uncover how the blazes begin.
In the Var, where an eight-day fire destroyed 4,500 hectares and threatened historic villages, teams of firefighters, police and forestry experts are painstakingly tracing burn patterns and searching for clues to pinpoint each fire's origin.
While climate change has made forests increasingly combustible, officials say around 90% of fires are sparked by human activity, whether through carelessness or arson.
Investigators warn against jumping to conclusions, stressing that most wildfires are accidental despite widespread fears of arsonists. Even so, authorities estimate that 30–40% of human-caused fires are deliberate, and more than 260 people have been arrested since late June as wildfire investigations continue.
With temperatures reaching 45°C and humidity at just 15%, experts say even the smallest spark can trigger catastrophe, warning that France's wildfire season now stretches far beyond summer and has become an almost year-round threat.
Greek firefighters battle deadly wildfires on Crete for a second day
Greek firefighters were battling deadly wildfires on the island of Crete for a second day on Thursday, as wildfires continue to spread across Europe following days of devastating blazes in Spain and France.
On Wednesday, three Greek firefighters died battling blazes during high winds on Crete and on the mainland, and two more were injured.
Yesterday's key developments:
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Next 12 hours will be 'decisive' for ending Madrid region fire, Spanish PM Sanchez says
- Wildfire in southwest France 'still stable', regional authorities say
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Three firefighters died battling forest blazes in Greece on Wednesday as several other fires broke out around the country, fed by gale-force winds.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
