Wildfire in France is the largest since 1949

Massive wildfire in France is still spreading

A wildfire spread rapidly on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, in the Aude region of southern France. As of Thursday morning, it had burned 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres), or well over the size of Paris. It’s currently the largest wildfire in the country since 1949. So far, one person has died from the fire. More than 2,000 firefighters are fighting the blaze with 500 fire engines and multiple aircraft. Despite this mobilization, the fire continues to spread due to hot and windy conditions.

The Aude region is close to the Spanish border. The fire broke out on August 5 around 4:15 p.m. in Ribaute. According to forest fire website in France at around 11 UTC on Thursday:

The biggest fire of the summer in France continues to spread and has covered more than 17,000 hectares of vegetation in the Aude region since Tuesday.

A 65-year-old woman died, three people were reported missing, and 13 people were injured, including two civilians and eleven firefighters. The fire also destroyed or damaged 25 homes and burned 35 vehicles.

The fire is ‘progressing more slowly,’ according to Christophe Magny, head of the Aude fire department, who hopes the fire will be ‘contained within the day.’

Visiting the site yesterday with Bruno Retailleau, François Bayrou deplored a ‘catastrophe of unprecedented scale.’

The biggest fire of the summer in France so far can be seen below from space, observed by Meteosat-12 at 10:30 CEST today.
16,000 hectares have already burned in the south, near the Corbières region.
Data from Meteosat-12 is provided to users in order to monitor in real time: bit.ly/47jFSC9

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— EUMETSAT (@eumetsat.int) August 6, 2025 at 10:41 AM

A fast-spreading fire

The translation of the post below reads, in English:

This is a real ecological disaster in the Aude. In just 7 hours, more than 7,000 hectares have gone up in smoke, with a fire front >30km (>18 miles) long. The speed of propagation is exceptional: we are probably witnessing the fastest and most violent forest fire of the 21st century in France.

C’est un véritable désastre écologique dans l’Aude. En à peine 7h, plus de 7000 hectares sont partis en fumée, avec un front de feu de >30km de long. La vitesse de propagation est exceptionnelle : nous assistons probablement au feu de forêt le + rapide et le plus violent du XXI? siècle en France 1/2

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— Dr. Serge Zaka (@sergezaka.bsky.social) August 5, 2025 at 4:41 PM

Bottom line: A large wildfire has rapidly spread through the Aude region of France, near the border with Spain. This wildfire in France is the largest in decades.

Read more: This Is Wildfire: Tips on preparing yourself and your home