Firefighters kept a vast wildfire in southwest France in check overnight into Tuesday (July 28, 2026), bringing flare-ups near Atlantic coast dunes under control in a crucial reprieve before returning heat and falling humidity threaten to test their hold on the blaze.

The fire remained stabilised at 6 a.m. after a calm night and the burned area was unchanged at 420 sq. kilometres, the Gironde prefecture said. The emergency now stretches across southwestern Europe.

Fires in France have forced roughly 3,30,000 people to evacuate, while Spain entered its fourth heat wave of the summer on Tuesday (July 28, 2026) with several blazes still out of control, including the largest ever recorded in the country.

In France, several flare-ups were detected overnight north of Le Porge and in dunes north of Cap Ferret but were brought under control by firefighters, authorities said. “We are at a point of fragility,” Eric Brocardi, spokesperson for France’s national firefighters federation, told BFMTV on Tuesday (July 28, 2026). “We will continue attacking this fire despite the forecast rise in temperatures.” The areas lie along the Atlantic coast west of Bordeaux, where crews have battled the blaze since it erupted near Saumos last week.

The overnight calm did not mean the danger had passed. The fire remained stabilised rather than fixed, meaning it could still spread again. The blaze, raging since last week, has been wildly unpredictable, transforming at times into a self-feeding firestorm as it burned through an area four times the size of Paris and forced 220,000 people to evacuate homes and vacation accommodation. Even after 24 hours without further advance, officials warned that smouldering vegetation, rising temperatures and falling humidity could produce fresh outbreaks along the vast perimeter.

Firefighters and military engineers resumed work early Tuesday (July 28, 2026) on tactical firebreaks designed to prevent the flames from spreading. Authorities said 103 Km of firebreaks had been completed. Ninety-three firefighters have been injured while battling the blaze, the prefecture said. The A63 highway remained partly closed, while rail traffic south of Bordeaux was suspended except on the route toward Toulouse.

Thousands return as progress is made on second fire

The overnight holding action in Gironde contrasted with a clearer sign of progress in neighbouring Landes, where thousands of evacuees were allowed home after a separate wildfire was fixed. The fire had displaced more than 30,000 residents and vacationers.

“The fire is fixed, which is good news in the Landes,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday (July 28, 2026) evening. Regional authorities said that meant its advance had been stopped and no new fires were breaking out.

About 15,000 people were authorised to return home on Monday (July 27, 2026) night in Sanguinet, Parentis-en-Born and some parts of Biscarrosse. Residents of Biscarrosse’s aviation village and a large campground were among those allowed back, although several other neighbourhoods remained inaccessible.

The return marked a significant step for communities that emptied as flames swept through forests and tourist areas during the height of the summer vacation season. Authorities warned that the Landes fire was not extinguished. Residual hot spots, wind and drought could cause flare-ups, and surveillance and damping-down operations were expected to continue for days or possibly weeks.

Heat returns

The gains in both fire zones faced an immediate test on Tuesday (July 28, 2026) as temperatures began climbing again.

France’s national weather service placed Gironde under a yellow heat warning from midday, forecasting inland temperatures of 33°C to 35°C. Southeast winds were expected across the department, with westerly sea breezes along the coast. More than 116,000 hectares have burned across France so far this year, according to the Interior Ministry.

Western Europe recorded its hottest June on record, with extreme heat and widespread dryness helping fires spread and intensify in France and Spain, the European Union’s Copernicus climate service said.

Spain braces for worsening states

Hundreds of firefighters backed by military emergency brigades and water-dropping aircraft continued battling several major wildfires in Spain, including the largest ever recorded in the fire-prone country.

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said on Tuesday (July 28, 2026) that nonstop work through the night left him “reasonably positive,” but warned that conditions could deteriorate as temperatures rose again. Spain’s national weather service said the country was entering its fourth heat wave of the summer on Tuesday (July 28, 2026), with temperatures expected to exceed 40°C in some areas.

Authorities have evacuated some 79,000 people and ordered another 30,000 to remain in their homes during an unprecedented crisis that prompted the government to declare a national emergency for wildfires for the first time. The greatest concern remained two large fires that had at times come close to merging into a single mega-blaze in wooded hills about an hour’s drive west of Madrid. Another fire in the eastern province of Castellon also forced mass evacuations.

A fire burning through hilly, rural terrain in Avila, west of Madrid, has become Spain’s largest on record, scorching more than 500 sq. kilometres, the government said. That is five times the size of Barcelona. “Look at how the valley is burned. Look at the houses, the people,” said David Gonzalez, a 48-year-old gardener who used his van to deliver supplies to firefighters in Avila. “We are feeling a lot of anger and helplessness. It’s something inhuman,” he said.

Fires have burned 1,530 sq. kilometres this year in Spain — six times the area scorched by blazes in the first half of 2025, said Sara Aagesen, the Ecology Minister. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for a national pact to fight wildfires made worse by climate change.

Published – July 28, 2026 03:32 pm IST

Firefighters and authorities in both European countries were caught off guard by the virulence of the fires, which were fuelled by long-term effects of climate change. File
| Photo Credit: AP

A view of firefighting trucks during a wildfire in Ille-sur-Tet near Perpignan, Pyrenees-Orientales department, France, on July 6, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters