Europe wildfires near Bordeaux wine country, in maps

Wildfires near Bordeaux wine country and Madrid have forced hundreds of thousands to flee as Europe faces one of its most intense fire seasons yet, tracked in maps and charts as burned land soars far past yearly norms with more heat ahead. France warns fires could burn for months, while Spain’s prime minister called the crisis the “most painful expression of a climate emergency.”

Key Takeaways

• France and Spain are the worst hit, with firefighters battling blazes near Bordeaux and Madrid.
• More than 300,000 people have been evacuated as burned area exceeds a typical full-year total.
• 2025 was Europe’s worst wildfire year on record, with more than 1 million hectares burned across the EU.
• Crews have slowed some fires, but high winds, rising heat and no rain keep the outlook fragile.

Where are Europe’s wildfires hitting hardest right now?

According to CNN’s maps and charts tracker, France and Spain remain the worst affected. Firefighters are fighting major blazes close to Bordeaux—Europe’s iconic wine capital—and Madrid.

The Economist reports that a fire west of Bordeaux that began only days earlier had, by July 28, burned nearly three times France’s recent average annual burned area of about 15,000 hectares. Savage fires have also advanced perilously close to Madrid. Spanish authorities said more than 100 square miles had been scorched near the capital.

Hundreds of thousands of residents have fled. The Economist puts evacuations above 300,000. French officials say the emergency is far from over and could stretch for months.

How bad is this season compared with recent years?

Over the past two decades, Europe has seen annual burned area rise. CNN cites European Forest Fire Information System data showing a 20-year average through 2025 of about 388,000 hectares a year. The worst year on record was 2025, when more than 1 million hectares burned across the European Union.

Current wildfires have already spread farther than they typically do in an entire average year, CNN reports—an early signal that 2026 is again testing emergency services across Western and Southern Europe.

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Could conditions get worse after fires briefly slow?

The New York Times reports firefighters have contained vast wildfires in France and Spain, yet winds remain high and temperatures are rising. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the next 12 hours would be “decisive.”

CNN notes temperatures will climb to above-average highs across fire-ravaged areas of France and Spain over the coming week, with no rainfall in sight. Fires in France have been intense enough to create “fire clouds,” a phenomenon authorities say had never been seen in the country.

Sánchez argued the blazes are not “a succession of isolated events” but the clearest face of a climate emergency. Europe is the fastest-warming continent, and abrupt wet-to-dry swings have fueled more destructive seasons. The Economist’s leader puts it starkly: these fires are not a new normal—but worse can still be expected.