France wildfires stabilise as 224,000 evacuees begin returning near Bordeaux

Wildfires near Bordeaux burned 42,000 hectares and forced 224,000 people to evacuate. Even as many residents returned, hot spots, arrests and Europe-wide fires underscored the wider climate strain.Wildfires in southwestern France have burned through 42,000 hectares west of Bordeaux and forced nearly 224,000 people to leave their homes and holiday sites, as firefighters worked to control the last hot spots on Friday. Cooler, more humid air has helped the response, and authorities have allowed nearly two-thirds of those evacuated to return, but the ground is still smouldering in many places.France's fires are part of a wider pattern across Europe, where an extremely hot summer has fuelled blazes from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean. This week, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Greece and Turkey all battled fires, while volunteers in France joined firefighters to watch for flare-ups and help with limited supplies.In Lanton, Jean-Francois Pauner moved from one small fire to another with a watering can and bucket, dousing flare-ups along the forest floor. Pauner, 64, who has a residence nearby, said: "This is the first fire I'm experiencing real-time, and I can tell you it's vicious. It's underground, it comes out at any moment, and no matter how much we try to extinguish it, re-extinguish it, re-extinguish it, it keeps restarting all the time."He added: "It's like a steamroller that's constantly, constantly rolling." Standing on a road through cultivated pine trees, wearing shorts, boots and sunglasses on a string around his neck, Pauner emptied his watering can into a smoking ditch and said, "I'm protecting my forest, and my home." Pauner is among the many volunteers who have mobilised to support firefighters battling France's biggest wildfires in years. He described them as "little eyes" keeping watch and reporting flare-ups to firefighters. Others brought trucks and large jerrycans to help supply fire sites.Locals pointed to prolonged drought and climate change for worsening conditions. Pauner said the region had gone for more than two months without significant rainfall, leaving vegetation exceptionally dry. French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told RTL radio on Friday: "It's stabilised, but not totally stopped. Hot spots remain." Television images showed fire crews using rakes to dig into the smouldering forest floor so that buried embers could be doused with water, in a long and painstaking operation.Police and investigators were examining the origins of the blaze. Nunez said the fires could have been triggered deliberately, with some suspects appearing to be repeat offenders, or through negligence. As of Friday, he said 308 people had been arrested in connection with the blazes, including more than 120 minors, while 33 people had either been convicted or were being held pending court rulings.Nunez also said in a social media post that Ukraine would send 70 civil security personnel and 10 vehicles in the coming days to strengthen the deployment in France.Elsewhere in Europe, pockets of trouble continued. In England, where half the country has been under drought conditions, firefighters battled a wildfire near a nuclear power station for a third day. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said the fire near Leiston on the east coast had "stabilised" and there was no concern about it spreading to the Sizewell B power plant a few miles away.More than 100 firefighters were deployed to tackle the blaze, which has burned about 150 hectares in Dunwich Heath. Deputy Chief Fire Officer Henry Griffin told reporters the fire had been stabilised, but because of its scale and unpredictable winds in the area, "I wouldn't say it is under control."In Greece, many areas were listed at high or extreme risk of wildfires on Friday, with strong winds raising the danger of fast-spreading blazes. Three Greek firefighters died fighting fires this week on the southern island of Crete. On Friday, the coast guard and fire department launched a sea evacuation for people trapped by a wildfire burning out of control on the mainland west of Athens.The fire, which broke out on Friday morning in the Agios Vasilios area of Boeotia, was being tackled by more than 105 firefighters and 29 vehicles, the fire department said. Gale-force winds were fanning the blaze and preventing water-dropping aircraft from flying over the area, with the turbulence allowing only one helicopter to take on water from the sea to fight the fire.Even as conditions improved in parts of southwestern France and some evacuees returned, hot spots remained active, volunteers stayed on watch and firefighters continued a slow operation to stamp out buried embers, while other European countries faced similar fire threats.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Jul 31, 2026 19:36 IST