Wildfire near Paris closes highways as France battles heatwave

A fast-moving wildfire burned through the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris, forcing a partial closure of the A6 motorway and disrupting high-speed rail traffic toward southeastern France as France faced another severe heatwave. About 15 homes were evacuated in the nearby village of Vaudoué while firefighters worked to keep the flames from reaching other settlements around the historic woodland.

The blaze began late afternoon on July 12, 2026, in the sprawling forest about 60 kilometres southeast of the capital. By early Monday it had scorched about 800 hectares; later in the day, the burned area had grown to roughly 1,000 hectares. Around 400 firefighters were deployed, backed by two firefighting planes sent to the Paris region and other aircraft over the smoke. The aerial mission was suspended overnight because of darkness, and France used fire-bomber planes from southern France in the Paris area for the first time.

The fire broke out during the third heatwave of the summer, when tinder-dry vegetation helped flames move quickly across France and other parts of western Europe. June 2026 was the hottest June on record for western Europe and the second warmest globally, the World Meteorological Organization and Copernicus Climate Change Service recorded. World Weather Attribution put temperatures across France, Germany, Italy, Spain and southern England at 5 to 12 degrees Celsius above seasonal averages.

Spain’s wildfire death toll reached 13 during the same heatwave period. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez put forest fires at 17,000 hectares in France this year, with the total expected to reach 25,000 hectares once all figures were tallied, about twice the area burned by the same point in 2025.