Express & Star
·Jul 2026
France says wildfire that forced 220,000 people to flee has stopped growing
A major wildfire in France’s Gironde region stopped expanding overnight after forcing about 220,000 people to evacuate, but officials warned that smouldering woodlands and forecast extreme heat could quickly worsen conditions. Thousands of firefighters, aircraft, farmers and international personnel are working to contain the blaze, while authorities restrict tourism in the affected area. Spain is also battling record-scale fires that have displaced more than 100,000 people, and Italy evacuated tourists from a wildfire in Puglia. Leaders and officials linked the exceptional fires to intensifying heatwaves and the climate emergency, prompting calls for stronger climate action.