Paris-Madrid: Europe and the Arabs

A spokesperson for the 33rd fire and rescue service in the Gironde department of southwestern France told AFP that the massive wildfire that has consumed 42,000 hectares in the department saw a "decrease in the number of active fires" on Monday, but firefighters "have not yet been able" to bring it under control.

Captain Wilfried Schneider said: "We have fewer active fires than yesterday (Sunday). The weather conditions are favorable, with a decrease in wind speed. But there are still active fires. The most active one is located between Marchebraeme and Béruton, on the outskirts of the Bordeaux metropolitan area." He added: "We can't say the fire is under control. The situation has stabilized after being completely unstable, but we're still out of control. We now have one very active area, and there are no longer multiple very active areas as there were in recent days." According to Belgian media in Brussels, the daily newspaper Nieuwsblad added, "Residents of Bordeaux told our correspondent on the ground that they fear what's to come: 'This is just the beginning.'" 240 homes have already burned in Gironde, but residents are anxiously awaiting what will happen next. A new heatwave and continued drought are raising fears of worse to come. Flemish residents in the area also expressed their concern, telling our correspondent in France: "It's a constant worry." The fire in Gironde "will continue for a few more weeks, if not months." The fire in the Gironde province is not yet over. Lieutenant Colonel David Anotel, from the fire department, told France Info radio on Monday morning: "It will take a few more weeks, if not months, before we can definitively declare the fire extinguished." "Relief operations must be scheduled, which will continue to arrive from all over France. In France, we carry out all kinds of tasks: firefighting, ambulance... and given the coming heatwave, the number of calls will increase." All of this is exhausting the crews.” Anotel added that the resources currently deployed in Gironde “are not insufficient at all.”

“Evacuation of Bordeaux is not on the table at the moment.”
At this moment, the evacuation of the city of Bordeaux is not on the agenda. This was stated by government spokesperson Maud Brégon on Monday morning to France Info. “With the utmost caution, I can say that the evacuation of Bordeaux is not on the agenda at the moment.” She remains cautious given the scale and “exceptional” spread of the fire. She added: “There is a state of maximum alert” regarding industrial sites that produce or store hazardous materials.
Brégon emphasized that the situation is extremely serious for the more than 200,000 people who have been evacuated and the residents of the 200 homes destroyed by the fire. She stated: “This is unprecedented in France.”
First time allowed to return home in the Madrid region
On Monday, some of the people evacuated due to the fire near Madrid will be allowed to return to their homes. This was reported by the government representative in Madrid, Francisco Martín. Aguirre. He added that caution is advised "because the fire is still out of control." This concerns the 4,500 people evacuated from the camp near El Escorial and the residents of a nursing home in San Martín de Valdeglesias, a municipality about 50 kilometers from Madrid.

Bus service between Vilamanta, near the disaster zone, and Madrid should also resume, and livestock farmers can feed their animals, unless the situation deteriorates again, according to the prefect.

Francisco Martín Aguirre confirmed that the fire west of Madrid "is still out of control"—contrary to what Spanish media reported Sunday evening—and that there are "some local hotspots" of the fire. Furthermore, the fire is located near a fire in Ávila, in the neighboring Castile and León region.

The fire in Ávila is the largest in Spanish history.
A massive fire in the Spanish province of Ávila consumed 50,000 hectares of land on Sunday, according to Virginia Barcones, Secretary General of Civil Protection and Emergency. This makes it the largest fire in Spanish history.

In Last August, a fire in La Rocco, Quiroga, and Awencia, in the northeast of the country, destroyed more than 37,000 hectares of land. It became the most destructive fire in Spanish history, but it didn't last long.

The three fires currently burning in Spain—being fought as a single unit—have consumed a combined 77,000 hectares along a 280-kilometer perimeter. This means that the fires in Ávila, Madrid, and Toledo account for more than half of the total area burned so far this year. The 32 major fires recorded in Spain this year have reduced 152,678 hectares to ash, compared to 24,133 hectares burned during the same period in 2025—a sixfold increase.