France wildfires live: 184 arsonists arrested as 'all regions' at risk of further fires

France wildfires live: 184 arsonists arrested as 'all regions' at risk of further fires Flames are nearing the French Atlantic Coast with raging wildfires now nine miles from Bordeaux as the city's mayor says he's prepared for 'all eventualities' All regions of France are potentially at risk of wildfires tomorrow as the country grapples with what President Macron has claimed is the "most difficult situation" his country has dealt with since World War Two. “We are facing two particularly critical days, with the heatwave and the very dry forest,” Gironde mayor Blandine Sarrazin. told local media. "This is the third fire to start here in the last two and a half days, it's really difficult," she added, telling residents it was not yet safe to return home. Holidaymakers have been forced to leave campsites, tourist homes, holiday villages and leisure parks around Lacanau, which is around 40 miles from Bordeaux. The order comes as firefighters race against time to bring the fires under control before the country's south-west is blasted by a forecast 40C heatwave tomorrow (Wednesday). Officials say the largest blaze has "stabilised" but have warned it could still burn out of control again as temperatures rise and humidity falls. But a number of additional fires continue to burn with no end in sight, as local officials warn that the inferno could continue for months before it is fully contained. France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez claimed wildfire season is "far from over," and said authorities have arrested 1 84 suspected arsonists since the start of the summer. Meanwhile in Spain, 63,000 people have been evacuate from their homes near Madrid, with the country's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calling it "the most painful expression of the climate emergency". Key Events A recap of the the wildfires still raging in France and Spain: - The fires in the hills west of Madrid has become Spain's largest ever wildfire - A separate blaze outside Bordeaux in France has consumed an area four times bigger than Paris - Around 360,000 people have been evacuated across both countries - Both countries are set to face a heatwave, with temperatures are expected to be above 40C in some areas - Firefighters are working to contain the blazes before the heatwave sets in A new fire has been reported in Le Temple, a town in Gironde, according to BFMTV journalists currently on the scene. Homes are not yet in danger and the flames are burning "outside the town centre, the town's mayor, Olivier Halard, said. Meanwhile, an existing fire in Le Porge, also in Gironde, is "not yet under control". The municipality said in a Facebook post: "The emergency teams remain fully mobilised and are continuing their operations on the ground without interruption." Spanish firefighter Javier García has never faced anything like the record blaze raging near Madrid in his two decades protecting woodlands and rural communities. “This is unprecedented,” García said. “The evolution is alarming." The out-of-control fire has consumed 500 square kilometers — an area five times the size of Barcelona — and forced 25,000 people to flee villages in the smoldering hills of Ávila west of Madrid, the capital. Before, his brigade would tackle fires in the wilderness. Now they are a last line of defence, focused on saving lives. No deaths from these fires have been reported, while 79,000 people have fled their homes from the Ávila fire, another fire nearby in the Madrid region and one in eastern Castellón. “That gives us more work and more stress,” García said. “Now it is lives first, then homes, and after, the forest.” The Gironde and Landes regions of France are facing a "severe heatwave peak" says the national weather agency with an orange warning to be issued at midday on Wednesday. Temperatures are expected to be between "between 38 and 41°C" on Wednesday, with slightly weaker but drier winds, before a significant drop expected on Thursday. “Tomorrow will be an important day, one we will be watching very closely, given the extreme temperatures we expect,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Pitault of the Gironde Fire and Rescue Service (SDIS 33). “We are not going to see a widespread fire across the entire affected area but we must remain very vigilant.” Residents have been evacuated from the towns of La Utrera and La Velilla in Castile and Leon and are sheltering at schools in Riello due to wildfire. At the same time there is a lockdown in Garandilla and El Castro, in the province of León, where people have been told to remain in their homes due to the fire in Valdesamario. The LE-451 highway is closed between kilometres 37 and 40. France's main weather forecaster has warned that potentially every region of the country is at risk of being affected by fires as the country prepares for the hottest and driest day of the week. "Dry and very hot weather is contributing to an increase in the risk of forest fires," they wrote on X. "All regions are affected by a high fire risk on Wednesday, the hottest and driest day of the week." The national Spanish weather agency Aemet says that there is barely 3% moisture in the soil which is leading to the easy spread of the wildfire. "In the case of the Madrid-Ávila fire, the soil moisture content barely reached 3%. The soil was extremely dry,” the agency wrote on X. It shared a map of Spain with the areas in red having only 10% moisture in the soil. French authorities have ordered the evacuation of 4,000 more people from Atlantic coast tourist sites, widening what may be France’s largest peacetime evacuation. The returning heat has threatened the firefighters’ fragile hold on a vast wildfire west of Bordeaux. Fire crews held the blaze in the Gironde region in check through a calm night, bringing flare-ups near coastal dunes under control and keeping the burned area unchanged at 162 square miles. Authorities called the fire stabilised, but not contained, and said it was still capable of breaking loose as temperatures rose and humidity fell. Fresh flames erupted later today near Grand Crohot, a popular Atlantic beach on the Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula, local authorities said. A fleet of 23 planes and helicopters — up from 18 — dropped water and fire retardant as crews fought to keep the renewed flames from spreading. Resident of three towns on the outskirts of Bordeaux that were forced to evacuate over the weekend will be able to reurn home imminently, the local government announced. Around 60,000 people in Le Haillan, Mérignac, and Eysines will be able to return to their homes "immediately," local emdia reports. France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has announced that an individual has been remanded in custody in connection with starting the raging wildfires currently tearing through south-east France. In a post on X, the minister said: £Since the start of summer, the internal security forces have apprehended 184 individuals. For we are showing total determination to identify every arsonist: no leniency toward those who endanger lives, expose our firefighters to risk, and destroy our heritage." The Spanish government has officially ended its mandatory evacuation orders in 13 locations across the Madrid and Avila areas as of 5pm local time. The areas in question are: - Cenicientos - Navalagamella - Navas del Rey - Rozas de Puerto Real - Aldea del Fresno - Chapinería - Colmenar del Arroyo - Fresnedilla - Burgohondo - Higuera de las Duenas - Pedro Bernardo - Navaluenga sur Officials said on Tuesday morning that the main blaze has stabilised and the burned area remains unchanged, but warned it could still burn out of control again as temperatures rise and humidity falls. National weather service Météo-France said France’s latest heatwave is expected to begin on Tuesday. A new map shows where wildfires are burning across miles of countryside near Bordeaux and the Atlantic Coast of France. More than 4,000 tourists have, today, been told they must leave the Lacanau area to the North-West of Bordeaux because of the massive blaze nearby. The evacuation of 4,000 tourists from areas on the Atlantic Coast near Bordeaux is now complete, the area's Mayor has said. Holidaymakers were told they had to leave campsites, holiday villages, and leisure parks in the Lacanau area as wildfires ravaged the countryside nearby. During a press conference, Laurent Peyrondet, mayor of Lacanau and president of the Médoc Atlantique tourist office, said all the tourists had now "left", Le Figaro reports. “Our primary concern was to identify vulnerable individuals and those without transportation. The evacuation proceeded calmly," he said. While he wanted to protect the local economy, the mayor said he "deferred" to the evacuation order issued by the prefecture. The incredible moment two men rescued a deer caught up in the French wildfires has been caught on camera. In the video, filmed in the Gironde region of France, the roe deer is seen stumbling around a scorched woodland, apparently disorientated in the aftermath of the fire. Two men are then seen carrying it to safety, with one holding its hind legs and the other towards its front. One of the men warns the other to "pull the back legs" as the animal, which seems to be having difficulty breathing, begins kicking. Other deer in the area have not been so fortunate, with emergency workers discovering a number of scorched corpses in forest around Andernos-les-Bains. On Monday, France’s ecology minister Monique Barbut warned that wildlife had suffered "extremely significant losses" since the fires began on June 22. She said: "It is clear that the figures will be catastrophic by the end of the summer.” An Brit expat who lives in a suburb of Bordeaux has told the BBC she is "scared but ready" as the wildfires burn just miles away. Nicole Quilfen, who lives in Pessac, moved from the UK to France more than 25 years ago and says that she left her friend's wedding reception to get ready for evacuation. She described Bordeaux as "overwhelmed", comparing the emptiness of the streets to the Covid pandemic years. "People are cancelling vacations and leaving," Nicole says. She is offering free cancellations for her Airbnb and is welcoming volunteers, nurses and ambulance drivers to stay. "We see lots of military planes and helicopters, we hear sirens all day, there's a lot of noise," Nicole adds. A map shows the location of wildfires in south-west France’s Gironde region. Officials said today that the area scorched by the huge blaze - 42,000 hectares, or 162 square miles - remains unchanged after a "calm" night. Authorities have ordered the evacuation of nearly 4,000 people from tourist sites on France's Atlantic coast as returning heat threatens firefighters' fragile hold on the fire. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said today that non-stop work through the night left him "reasonably positive", but warned that wildfire conditions could worsen as temperatures rise again. A map shows the location of the fire burning through hilly, rural terrain in Ávila, west of Madrid. The government said it has become Spain's largest wildfire on record, scorching more than 193 square miles. "Look at how the valley is burned. Look at the houses, the people," David Gonzalez, a 48-year-old gardener who used his van to deliver supplies to firefighters, told The Associated Press. "We are feeling a lot of anger and helplessness. It’s something inhuman." Fires have burned 590 square miles this year in Spain - six times the area scorched by blazes in the first half of 2025, said ecology minister Sara Aagesen. Dramatic images taken today show the aftermath of wildfires near Valencia and Madrid. The wildfire in Ávila, west of Madrid, has become Spain's largest on record, scorching more than 193 square miles, the government said. That is five times the size of Barcelona. "After a week of intense firefighting, the determination to extinguish this exceptional blaze remains at its peak," SDIS 33, the Gironde Fire and Rescue Service, said in the caption of an Instagram post containing images from the operation. Firefighters and military engineers resumed work early today on tactical firebreaks designed to prevent the wildfire in Gironde from spreading. Although its advance has been halted, officials have warned that smouldering vegetation and falling humidity could trigger fresh outbreaks. Authorities said 64 miles of barriers have been created. Ninety-three firefighters have been injured during the operation, the Gironde prefecture said. The cautious progress came as thousands of people began returning home after a separate wildfire in the neighbouring Landes region displaced more than 30,000 residents and tourists. French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that the Landes fire has been contained. French authorities have ordered the evacuation of 4,000 people from tourist sites on the Atlantic coast as worsening weather threatens to intensify wildfire conditions. People are being evacuated from campsites, tourist residences, holiday villages and leisure parks around Lacanau. The Gironde prefecture said the evacuation covers the resort town of Lacanau-Océan and both shores of Lake Lacanau. People have been told to take their personal belongings, follow emergency instructions and avoid the area until authorities allow them to return. Spain's state weather agency AEMET has announced a new heatwave starting tomorrow and lasting until the end of the week, with temperatures forecast to hit 42C in the north-east and 39C in the centre. Around 60,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in areas west of Madrid. At a sports hall just outside Madrid, displaced people sprawled on camp beds, held their heads in their hands and comforted pets. Maria Angeles Canete fought back tears as she looked around the desolation that used to be her campsite near Navaluenga, west of the capital. "We lost everything," she told the AFP news agency. "We had this campsite, we had another one, and we’ve lost it all. We have nothing." France's latest heatwave is expected to begin today, national weather service Météo-France has said. The highest temperatures are forecast in the south-west, where the country's most intense wildfires are raging. Much of the country is forecast to see highs of 32C to 35C, with temperatures reaching 37C in the south-west. Nantes and Paris are set to hit 33C, while Lyon could reach 34C and Toulouse 35C. Temperatures are expected to climb further tomorrow, with intense heat spreading across much of western France. Parts of the south-west could see scorching highs of 40C, while Paris is forecast to reach 38C and Lyon 36C. "We are one of the worst-affected municipalities, right on the front line of the fire," Manuel Martinez, mayor of the town Marcheprime, told news outlet Franceinfo earlier this morning. He described it as a "wildfire unlike anything we’ve seen before" that officials are working to understand. "We are at war with an enemy," he said, calling for more resources for firefighters. Captain Wilfried Schneider of SDIS 33, the Gironde Fire and Rescue Service, told the AFP news agency yesterday that the biggest blaze was burning between Marcheprime and Pierroton, on the outskirts of the Bordeaux metropolitan area. The Gironde prefecture said this morning that the huge wildfire remains "stabilised" following a "calm" night. Overnight flare-ups were brought under control, officials said, adding that the number of firefighters injured has risen to 93. The map below shows the active wildfires currently burning across France. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told France 2 TV on Sunday that the country is battling between 30 and 40 wildfires on a daily basis. Bordeaux is forecast to reach highs of 38C today before temperatures climb to a scorching 41C tomorrow, according to AccuWeather. National weather service Météo-France has placed the Gironde region under a yellow alert for high termperatures. The heat is expected to peak on Wednesday. "We’re facing a completely unprecedented fire," French President Emmanuel Macron said last evening, describing the situation as France’s worst fire-related crisis since the Second World War. He praised fire crews for preventing the inferno from spreading further after days of flames advancing towards the city of Bordeaux. But he and other government officials warned that the battle is not yet over, with the fire still raging and another heatwave forecast for this week. A volunteer firefighter died on Monday during in a preventative forest firefighting mission in the southern France, authorities said. Laurent Manson, 38, died after the fire-fighting tanker he was driving came off the road on the way to refuel, according to BFMTV.