In brief
- The last time Spain declared the same level of emergency alert was during a massive nationwide power blackout in 2025.
- French interior minister Laurent Nunez has pledged to "do everything" to protect Bordeaux.
Spain has declared a national emergency over wildfires for the first time and France is asking for help from the European Union to tackle a blaze on the Atlantic coast with over 166,000 people evacuated.
Unprecedented forest fires raged near Madrid and Bordeaux, a French city flanked by tourist havens and world-renowned vineyards.
French President Emmanuel Macron has asked the army to mobilise to help contain the worst wildfire the country has ever seen after seeking European Union help, as a local official warned the blaze was heading towards Bordeaux.
French authorities ordered the total evacuation of the up-market Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot busy for the summer season, as smoke and flames drew closer to homes. Some 44,000 people fled the peninsula south of Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast, with the only road threatened by flames.
Twenty-seven boats moved hundreds of people away from the fires, while others drove off the peninsula, known for its millionaire residences. More than 50 houses there have been destroyed.
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French interior minister Laurent Nunez said France had never before seen this type of fire on this scale and pledged to "do everything" to protect Bordeaux.
A fire that began in Saumos, north of Cap Ferret, is threatening to cut off the only road out of the peninsula and is the largest so far this season in France, Nunez told local television.
In the town of Biscarrosse, another large fire also forced residents to leave their homes.
"From our home, we had a view of the fires ... We could see the clouds becoming darker and darker," said Yoan Urien, 26, who fled on Friday after police told everyone in his neighbourhood to leave.
"I was able to find somewhere to take shelter with my pets, but ... it's quite a shock."
National emergency
In Spain, more than 10,000 people were evacuated from towns in the mountains west of the capital, Madrid, as firefighters sought to prevent three fires in the region and neighbouring Avila province from joining, interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said.
The area, where many residents from the capital have second homes, is densely populated.
That played a role in the government decision to declare a national emergency, allowing it to better co-ordinate the response, Grande-Marlaska said, adding that the aggressive nature of the fires and hot, windy weather also prompted the move.
It was the first time such a measure has been taken due to a wildfire.
The last time Spain declared the same level of emergency alert was during a massive nationwide power blackout in 2025.
Spain has also sought assistance from the EU, the Interior Ministry said.
In Navaluenga in Avila province, local residents wearing masks because of the smoke stood watching firefighting helicopters scoop up water from the town's river.
More than 270 emergency personnel and 40 ground units have been deployed in the affected areas, alongside several Military Emergency Unit contingents, Spanish officials said.
It is the second consecutive year that Spain has faced a particularly destructive fire season.
More than 29 major fires have broken out in Spain in 2026, damaging a surface area five times greater than at the same stage in 2025, when a record area was destroyed, environment minister Sara Aagesen said in a social media post.
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