France and Spain evacuated more than 250,000 people as out-of-control forest fires raged on Saturday near Madrid and Bordeaux, with the French army drafted in to the fight against the worst wildfire the country has ever seen.

France hustled 197,000 people from areas around Bordeaux - including vacation spots crowded this time of year - in what was "probably" the biggest peacetime evacuation the country has seen, its interior minister said.

In Spain, where 70,000 people were evacuated from villages west of Madrid, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the priority was "to save lives" as he visited the fire zone.

The smell of burning reached central Madrid early on Saturday, as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was set to visit the zone wracked by what officials have called the surrounding region's worst fire on record.

The major fires have been burning for two or three days, with many hundreds of firefighters battling them around the clock, to the point of exhaustion. Both countries have asked for EU help.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday ordered the military to enter the fiery fray, which hit residents and holidaymakers alike at the peak of France's vacation season.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the country had never before seen such fires on this scale.

A local French official warned the blaze near Bordeaux was threatening the city's greater area, home to many of the world's most prestigious wineries.

Emergency shelters were set up in schools and gymnasiums in southwestern France for tourists and residents left wondering what they would return to.

"We had no one to put us up," said Caroline Larrode, 49, who fled home in Saumos on Friday for a huge Bordeaux hangar housing people evacuated from the Arcachon Basin with her cats Nenette, Poupette and Tina.

The unprecedented fires in France and Spain were fuelled by forests left tinder dry by successive heatwaves since May. Scientists say climate change is making drought conditions more frequent and making weather emergencies more extreme. (AFP)
_____________________________
Last updated: 2026-07-25 HKT 22:43




Edited by Azam Khan