Firefighters in southwest France continued their efforts Monday to control a large wildfire that has consumed an area roughly four times the size of Paris, forcing the evacuation of approximately 220,000 people, predominantly around Bordeaux. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez reported that the fire had not expanded overnight, marking a stabilization after days of rapid spread, but cautioned that the situation remained precarious as smoldering woodlands persisted.

French President Emmanuel Macron, visiting a coordination center near the affected Gironde region, described the blaze as unprecedented and the country’s worst fire crisis since World War II. He urged responders to maintain resilience, emphasizing the long and challenging path ahead despite recent progress in halting the fire’s growth. Authorities confirmed no new evacuations on Monday, although precautionary measures remained in place, including banning holiday camps for children and individuals with disabilities in the Gironde area to prevent additional risk as the country approaches its peak August tourist season.

Firefighting teams, supported by earth-moving equipment to create firebreaks, worked alongside local farmers supplying water for the operation. A coalition of approximately a dozen countries has provided aircraft, helicopters, and personnel to support efforts in both France and neighboring Spain, where wildfires have also been widespread and severe.

In Spain, wildfires around Madrid and Valencia have forced the evacuation of nearly 80,000 people, with tens of thousands more confined to their homes. A particularly large fire in the Ávila province west of Madrid has scorched nearly 200 square miles, becoming Spain’s largest recorded wildfire. Authorities and residents reported feelings of frustration and helplessness in response to the extensive damage. Spanish Ecology Minister Sara Aagesen noted that the total burned area this year in Spain has already reached nearly 600 square miles, six times that of the first half of 2025.

The wildfires in both countries have been driven by extraordinarily hot and dry conditions, with heat waves arriving earlier and with greater intensity than usual. France’s weather service forecast temperatures surpassing 95 degrees Fahrenheit in the southwest from Tuesday onwards, while Spain anticipates temperatures above 104 degrees, potentially exacerbating fire danger and complicating containment efforts. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez underscored the fires as symptomatic of a broader climate emergency, calling for increased action to address the growing threat of wildfire incidence and severity.

Meanwhile, a separate wildfire in Italy’s southern Puglia region prompted the evacuation of about 300 tourists near Peschici. The blaze, which consumed pine forest and scrub, elicited a response involving water-bombing aircraft and ground crews, recalling similar destructive fires in the area in 2007.

Overall, firefighting agencies in France, Spain, and Italy face a race against intensifying heat and dry conditions to contain multiple large wildfires, with hundreds of thousands displaced and considerable damage already inflicted across southern Europe.