Wildfires in Spain and France: 200,000 forced to flee

Firefighters race to control wildfires in Spain and France

Aggressive wildfires raging in Spain and France have caused some 200,000 people to evacuate, some fleeing by boat. Extreme temperatures topping 102°F (39°C), combined with hot winds, have fueled the intense wildfires across central Spain (near Madrid and Ávila) and southwestern France (in the Gironde and Landes departments around Bordeaux), leading to the massive evacuations and multiple regional emergency declarations.

As of this morning, the fires had burned record acreage, but destroyed only about 50 homes in France so far (no numbers are available yet for Spain).

Both residents and holidaymakers have evacuated. Some of the tourists had gathered prior to the August 12 solar eclipse in Spain.

Also, a large telescope – part of NASA’s deep space network – was threatened. There is no word as of this morning about its status. The fires are still raging, as of this morning. 

Eyewitness video showed smoke rising over the French coastline as a wildfire rages in the Aude region, near the Spanish border.#wildfire #smoke #Aude #France #climate #environment

— Reuters (@reuters.com) 2025-08-06T05:28:48.402Z

Ongoing wildfires in Spain and France ‘highly unpredictable’

AP reported:

Firefighters and authorities in both European countries were caught off guard by the virulence of the fires, which were fueled by high temperatures and the long-term effects of climate change. Firefighters in Spain admitted the fires were so fast and violent that they could not be tackled head on. Some people even fled by boat when flames swept through the touristic area on France’s Atlantic coast.

Some 141,000 fled homes in the Gironde and Landes departments in France, the French interior ministry said. In central Spain, 60,000 were forced from their homes, according to the Spanish interior ministry.

Dozens of French firefighters were injured, authorities said, but no deaths were reported in either country despite the scenes of panic as townsfolk fled by car and police went door to door to tell people to leave as large plumes of smoke rose from the neighboring woodlands.

Spain has declared its first national wildfire emergency, reflecting the exceptional scale and complexity of the crisis. And authorities are describing the ongoing fires as highly unpredictable, fueled by record heat, drought, and strong winds.

Wildfires have scorched nearly half a million acres across Spain and France this year, with France recording its worst wildfire season on record and Spain already far exceeding its recent annual average. French authorities are now describing 2026 as France’s worst year on record for wildfire damage.

Fire locations and evacuations

The fires are burning near towns like Navas del Rey and Cenicientos, approximately 50 km (30 miles) southwest of the Spanish capital of Madrid. These blazes have caused smoke to drift directly into Madrid and prompted the temporary shutdown of NASA’s Deep Space Communications Complex in Robledo de Chavela, about 60–65 km (37–40 miles) west of the city center. Staff were fleeing, and fires were threatening the big telescope, as of last night. More about that below.

Meanwhile, roughly 100 km (62 miles) north of Madrid, another major wildfire is burning in the neighboring Guadalajara province. Across both countries, more than 200,000 people have been forced to flee or have been ordered to lock down/shelter in place due to the massive wildfires.

In Spain overall, roughly 60,000 to 63,000 people were evacuated or confined to their homes after the government declared a national emergency due to fierce blazes spreading near Madrid and the Ávila province.

In France, approximately 141,000 people were evacuated across the Gironde and Landes departments (including massive coastal evacuations on the Cap Ferret peninsula near Bordeaux, where thousands had to escape by boat).

Deep Space Network telescope damage being assessed

The wildfires west of Madrid have reached NASA’s Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex, prompting the temporary shutdown of one of the agency’s key deep-space tracking facilities. NASA said the fires have “passed through” the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex in Robledo de Chavela, around 65 km (37 miles) west of central Madrid. All personnel were safely evacuated, according to the agency. NASA said any damage will be assessed once it is safe for teams to return. Read more in the tweet below, from @EmmanuelInvest on X.

??? UPDATE: Madrid Wildfires Force Shutdown of NASA Deep Space Communications Complex

The wildfires west of Madrid have reached NASA's Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex, prompting the temporary shutdown of one of the agency's key deep-space tracking facilities.

? NASA… pic.twitter.com/YrYJ9s31DY

— Emmanuel – Big Tech & AI Investor (@EmmanuelInvest) July 25, 2026

NASA's Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex under smoke and flames from the forest fires in Spain. 24 July 2026.

— Alejandro S. Borlaff (@asborlaff.bsky.social) 2026-07-24T21:17:54.421Z

?El fuego ha alcanzado el Complejo de Comunicaciones de Espacio Profundo de Madrid de la NASA en Robledo de Chavela @eurekablog.bsky.social @vmanchado.bsky.social

— Ignacio Villaverde (@wildlandfirefig.bsky.social) 2026-07-24T15:53:21.204Z

When was the last time this happened?

Mass wildfire evacuations of this magnitude are rare. But evacuations reaching or exceeding 200,000 people have occurred a handful of times already in the 21st century. Here is a breakdown for mass wildfire evacuations:

1. Southern California Wildfires (October 2007). Largest recorded
Scale: ~900,000 to 1,000,000 people displaced. Fierce Santa Ana winds and extreme dry conditions drove dozens of simultaneous fires across Southern California (including San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange counties). It remains the largest single wildfire evacuation in modern global history.

2. Canadian Wildfire Season (summer 2023). Scale: ~185,000+ people total across multiple provinces. During Canada’s record-breaking 2023 fire season, entire capital cities like Yellowknife (20,000 residents) were evacuated. Throughout the season, sequential evacuations across Quebec, Alberta, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories combined to force nearly 200,000 Canadians from their homes.

3. Northern California Wildfires (October 2019 / Kincade Fire).
Scale: ~180,000–200,000 people. When the Kincade Fire ignited in Sonoma County under hurricane-force wind gusts, authorities issued massive precautionary evacuation orders covering large towns like Healdsburg and Santa Rosa to avoid a repeat of the deadly 2017 Tubbs Fire.

4. Alberta, Canada (Fort McMurray Fire, May 2016). Scale: ~88,000 people. While under the 200,000 mark, it is worth noting as the largest single-city wildfire evacuation in North American history, where the entire population of the city was forced onto a single highway as flames engulfed neighboring subdivisions.

Bottom line: Raging wildfires in Spain and France have forced over 200,000 to evacuate or shelter as extreme heat and winds push uncontained blazes across both regions.