![\"Holidaymakers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0024bfe0-614.jpg\"\/)
\nHolidaymakers from Lege-Cap-Ferret are being evacuated by boat<\/p>\n
French authorities ordered the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot on the Atlantic Coast, sending boats to remove people from an area threatened by a major wildfire.<\/p>\n
The order for a total evacuation of the area, which is home to many valuable properties and is currently full of tourists enjoying their summer holidays in campsites and rental homes, underlined the severity of the fire.<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron said he had requested help from the European Union \u200cas the country’s battle against wildfires intensifies.<\/p>\n
“France has \u2060requested the activation of the European Union’s civil protection mechanism. We will soon be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian Canadair aircraft, two Portuguese Air Tractor planes, as well as two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia,” wrote Mr Macron on X today.<\/p>\n
\nHolidaymakers from Lege-Cap-Ferret are being evacuated by boat<\/p>\n
Sophie Brocas, the prefect for the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, said today that evacuees from the Cap Ferret peninsula could leave from piers in \u200cfour villages in the area between 6am-9am Irish time.<\/p>\n
All those still present in those villages must leave either on the boats or by \u2060the only road linking the area with the mainland, she added.<\/p>\n
The fire has already devastated 8,700 hectares and is \u200cstill raging.<\/p>\n
Wildfires fanned by scorching temperatures and strong winds have swept through parts of Italy, France and Spain, forcing thousands of people to flee.<\/p>\n
Three firefighters have been killed as southern Europe endures severe heat, with temperatures topping 40C in some areas.<\/p>\n
France’s southeast has been hit hard, with dozens of fires flaring up and being fanned by the mistral wind around the historic village of Cotignac – officials saying around 25 houses had been destroyed since Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Skies over Le Porge turned orange as smoke rose from charred and crackling pine trees, while helicopters made repeated runs over evacuated neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n
Fires in 2022 damaged a massive area of the same forest, forcing around 50,000 people to be evacuated.<\/p>\n
Around the city of Bordeaux, more than 20,000 people – mostly tourists in campsites and holiday lets – have been evacuated since Wednesday, as a fire ravaged a seaside pine forest.<\/p>\n
The authorities said the fire had been contained on its northerly flank but was not yet totally under control further south.<\/p>\n
Two firefighters died on Tuesday tackling another blaze near Bordeaux airport.<\/p>\n
Emergency declared in Madrid region<\/p>\n
Spain declared a national emergency in the Madrid region and in the province of Avila, near the capital, in the wake of several wildfires burning out of control.<\/p>\n
The measure, announced by the interior ministry late last night, aims to speed up the deployment of resources to fight the fires, and places the response to the crisis in the hands of a military emergency unit.<\/p>\n
In total, more than 10,000 people have been evacuated in recent days from across the Madrid region, where several forest fires are burning simultaneously.<\/p>\n
Spanish authorities sent evacuation messages early yesterday to 3,500 people in Aldea de Fresno, about 60kms from Madrid.<\/p>\n
Residents in the municipalities of Burgohondo, El Tiemblo and Navaluenga have been ordered to stay indoors, according to Spanish media reports.<\/p>\n
Wildfire rages overnight in Burgohondo, Spain<\/p>\n
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In addition, 1,500 people have been evacuated from a rural tourism complex and a housing development in El Tiemblo because of the rapid advance of the flames, El Pais newspaper said.<\/p>\n
The largest fire is on the other side of Madrid, in the province of Guadalajara, about 100km north of the capital, and has devastated 32,000 hectares since last Thursday.<\/p>\n
“Climate change is what kills, what destroys our villages and our natural and cultural heritage,” civil protection chief Virginia Barcones told Spanish radio.<\/p>\n
She warned some fires become so intense that, despite the deployment of aircraft and ground crews, firefighters stand “no chance”.<\/p>\n
Ms Barcones said conditions at the Guadalajara blaze were improving but that strong winds and extreme heat remained a danger.<\/p>\n
![\"Several](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/0024bfbf-614.jpg\"\/)
\nPeople evacuated from the municipality of Aldea del Fresno shelter at a local sports centre<\/p>\n
Posting on X, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged the public to exercise “great caution” and heed instructions from authorities.<\/p>\n
Almost 125,000 hectares (309,000 acres) have already burnt in Spain this year compared with 393,000 for the whole of last year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).<\/p>\n
Thousands of emergency workers in Italy battled scores of fires in Sicily and in Calabria region, where a local official said arsonists had started fires.<\/p>\n
One firefighter has died this week after falling ill while battling the flames in Sicily, the interior minister said.<\/p>\n
Read more:
Walking outside in Malaga in 40C ‘like opening an oven door’<\/a>
Wildfires, heatwaves and air-con: Europe’s climate reality<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"French authorities ordered the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot on the Atlantic Coast,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-565696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}