France wildfires force mass evacuations as Macron vows rebuild

More than 250,000 people had been evacuated across France and Spain as wildfires kept burning in southwest France, and Emmanuel Macron held a crisis cabinet meeting Monday. The president said France would “rebuild” parts of the country ravaged by the fires.

The heaviest displacement came from southwestern France, where more than 40,000 people were evacuated over two days as flames spread through a region that includes Bordeaux, Lège-Cap-Ferret and Arcachon. Across the border, the evacuation total had already passed 166,000 before rising further, as emergency crews worked in strong winds and drought conditions that made containment difficult.

Laurent Nuñez said 115,000 hectares had burned in France since the start of the year. In the southwest, the blaze was the country’s largest wildfire in decades, with firefighters trying to keep it from advancing toward Bordeaux as dry vegetation and gusting wind kept the front unstable.

Macron had already visited Fontainebleau on July 16 after wildfires scorched at least 10% of the 20,000-hectare forest there. He promised to replant the forest and warned that it could take several weeks to fully extinguish that fire. Another heatwave was expected.