wildfires force – Raging wildfires across Portugal, Spain, France and Greece have forced thousands to flee, burned nearly 20,000 hectares, and raised new fears as winds and temperatures climb again. In France, the Tour de France stage 3 prompted officials to ban spectators from
By Monday morning, the wildfire that had already chewed through thousands of hectares in the French Pyrenees near the Spanish border was getting worse again—fast enough to send the fight into a different gear.
“This morning, conditions are deteriorating again,” Laurent Nuñez, France’s interior minister, said on Monday. He added that with wildfires now blazing in five departments, twice as much land had burned in France so far this season compared with the same time last year.
In the remote foothills around Trévillach, Patrice described a spread that felt almost unreal. “It came within 300 metres [984ft] of the houses. We were shocked by how fast it spread, it was staggering – bordering on panic,” he told Agence France-Presse.
Firefighters were still trying to contain an out-of-control blaze that had scorched 5,000 hectares. Since Sunday, the Pyrenees fire had nearly tripled in size, and it triggered the evacuation of more than 10,000 people. Dozens of firefighters were not enough against the speed of the flames: 700 firefighters were struggling to contain the fire in the area.
The conditions were grim beyond France’s borders. Strong winds are forecast to fan the flames, and temperatures are expected to rise again this week. Those changes have landed after a record-breaking early summer heatwave—following a premature May heatwave and another in June that shattered temperature records across western Europe. drove thousands of excess deaths. and left vast areas more vulnerable to fire.
In June, extreme temperatures would have been “virtually impossible” without the climate crisis, according to the World Weather Attribution group of scientists. Temperatures are forecast to climb again this week, rising to 40C locally.
“Climate change is here, we are living the consequences and it is only the start of July,” said Eric Belgioino, the fire chief for Pyrénées-Orientales. “This season is going to be a long one for the soldiers fighting fires. You have to help us.”
The risk reached beyond the forest edge. Pierre Regnault de la Mothe. the regional prefect. ordered Tour de France spectators “not to go near the route or to the finish area” of Monday’s third stage through the Pyrenees from Spain into France. He said access would be “limited to the passage of the riders only and vehicles essential to the race.”.
Spain’s side of that border fire showed how quickly the damage spreads once it takes hold. On the Spanish side. the blaze had already ravaged 2. 200 hectares. 97% of which was in the protected natural area of Les Gavarres. Eduard Martinez, the head of operations of the Catalan fire service, said the fire’s perimeter was 40km (25 miles). Firefighters said the work would be complicated by rising temperatures and the many “smoking hotspots” within the perimeter. Late on Sunday. they said their efforts were made easier because the blaze was stable and they hoped it would be extinguished during the week.
Further south, in Spain’s eastern Castellón province, more than 500 people were evacuated after a wildfire spread into the Sierra de Espadán national park.
Portugal was facing a larger, multi-day fight. In the Vouzela area. more than 1. 200 firefighters supported by nearly 400 vehicles and 15 aircraft were trying to extinguish a blaze that broke out on Thursday and had burned across 13. 000 hectares by Sunday. Across Portugal. Spain. France and Greece. wildfires had burned through almost 20. 000 hectares (49. 500 acres). with hundreds of firefighters tackling blazes that kept growing in difficult weather.
Portugal’s interior minister, Luís Neves, described conditions as a “powder keg.”
Elsewhere, large fires cut across the wider region. On the Croatian island of Hvar and at Tale in Albania. fires destroyed hundreds of hectares of forest. vineyards and scrub. In Greece. which was largely spared last month’s heatwave. flames set off by a forest fire tore through two factories in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
A different kind of evacuation pressure followed. Greek authorities issued evacuation alerts for three suburbs and urged residents in parts of the city to stay indoors and shut their windows and doors because of toxic smoke from one of the factories, a recycling plant.
Another wildfire broke out Sunday afternoon west of Athens. There. 210 firefighters—supported by volunteers. specialised teams and 29 aircraft—were deployed to tackle a blaze burning through pine forest in the Mandra area. Emergency alerts and shelter-in-place instructions were issued as the fire moved through conditions that officials described as dangerously combustible.
The sequence across these countries looks familiar now: heat breaks records, winds prepare the spread, and evacuation lines start forming while firefighters fight to keep fires from leaping into new ground—homes, workplaces, and public events alike.
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