French authorities had evacuated more than 110,000 people from the Cap Ferret peninsula over two days by the historical event date of July 24, 2026, as an uncontrolled wildfire advanced through the Gironde region. The order covered villages along the Atlantic coast and included thousands of visitors staying in campsites and holiday rentals.
The blaze had burned more than 19,000 hectares, or 47,000 acres, of forest north of Arcachon Bay. It began near Saumos, about 40 kilometres west of Bordeaux, on Wednesday and had not stabilized by Friday. Officials described it as intense and difficult to predict. Eighty houses had burned, and roads into Cap Ferret were restricted to essential traffic.
Authorities used both land and sea routes to move people. Boats collected hundreds from piers because the fire threatened the peninsula's only access road. Around 800 firefighters and four water-bombing aircraft were assigned to the Gironde operation. Parched vegetation and strong winds drove flames through coastal pine forest, with reported flame heights reaching 10 metres.
A second major fire farther south near Biscarrosse had burned more than 2,500 hectares and prompted the evacuation of about 31,000 people. More than 600 firefighters were fighting that blaze, where officials warned of new ignitions ahead of the main fire front. The two emergencies stretched resources across south-western France.
President Emmanuel Macron activated the European Union's civil protection mechanism. France expected support from two Croatian aircraft, two Portuguese planes and heavy helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 32 wildfires were active nationally and 50,000 hectares had burned during 2026, nearly four times the area recorded by the same point a year earlier.
The crisis extended into Spain, where the government declared a national emergency as fires threatened areas near Madrid and in Ávila province. More than 63,000 people there had been evacuated or ordered to remain indoors. Both France and Spain sought EU assistance while extreme heat, wind and dry conditions complicated containment efforts.
The figures available on July 24 described a moving emergency, not a final assessment. Evacuation totals included people displaced from tourist accommodation as well as permanent residents, and the 80 destroyed homes related to the Cap Ferret fire. Authorities were prioritizing safe movement from the peninsula while crews tried to keep the blaze from cutting its road connection and spreading further through the forest. No final containment date or complete property-loss estimate was available. The continuing wind and possibility of new ignitions meant the number of people displaced and the burned area could still change after the reporting cutoff.
