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A sprawling wildfire that devastated the Gironde region near Bordeaux has been contained after consuming roughly 420 square kilometers of forest and forcing the evacuation of 224,000 residents over 10 days. The French prefecture confirmed Sunday that the blaze’s advance has been halted, though flames continued smoldering across the scorched landscape roughly four times the size of Paris.
Hundreds of kilometers to the southeast, firefighting crews faced a second major challenge in Provence’s Var department, where approximately 1,500 firefighters were combating a separate fire that had burned roughly 18 square kilometers since its outbreak. The Gros Bessillon blaze stabilized Sunday morning without expanding overnight, but authorities stopped short of declaring it fully contained.
Roughly 3,000 firefighters operated across both fronts, managing hot spots and clearing firebreaks as intense heat and wind gusts threatened to reignite smoldering embers. The Gironde region remained under France’s highest wildfire alert level due to persistent drought conditions and afternoon winds fanning across the devastated terrain.
Reinforcements from Ukraine, Lithuania and French Polynesia were expected to arrive Sunday and Monday to bolster the firefighting operation. Scientists from World Weather Attribution determined that human-induced climate change had doubled the likelihood of extreme fire conditions in France, with Europe warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s.
About 2,500 people evacuated from communities threatened by the Provence fire, marking the fourth major blaze to strike the Var since mid-July. Actor George Clooney and roughly 700 other residents had fled an earlier smaller fire near Brignoles before it was brought under control.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said France’s wildfire situation was generally stabilized but warned conditions remained volatile. He announced the appointment of a national reconstruction coordinator as more than 1,170 square kilometers have burned nationwide since the year began.
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