Bordeaux faces wildfire threat as evacuations continue nearby

Wildfires burned to within about 15 kilometres of Bordeaux as strong winds pushed the flames toward the city. The mayor of Bordeaux said the UNESCO-listed city had no current plans to evacuate. Authorities were “ready for anything,” but the order to move people had not reached Bordeaux itself.

Evacuations were already under way around the city. Thousands of people were moved from the Cap-Ferret peninsula and suburbs west of Bordeaux as the fire spread through Gironde, and officials were considering a total evacuation if the situation worsened. France asked for aircraft and helicopters through the European Union’s civil protection mechanism on July 24.

The pressure in Bordeaux came after a punishing early-summer heatwave across Europe. Météo-France said France had broken a June average temperature record in 2026, and French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had been due to hold a crisis meeting on June 23 after criticism that the government was unprepared. Across France and Spain, more than 140,000 people were evacuated during the wider wildfire emergency, while the number displaced across Europe in the same week was more than 200,000 or even 300,000.

In 2022, a blaze about 30 kilometres south-east of the city destroyed about 7,400 hectares and forced around 10,000 residents to flee. In Gironde, officials were trying to keep Bordeaux in place while fire crews fought to contain the spread around Arcachon, Lege-Cap-Ferret and the western suburbs.