Firefighters have contained vast fires in France and Spain, but high winds and rising temperatures keep conditions dangerous. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the next 12 hours would be “decisive.” Over the past 20 years, Europe has seen a steady rise in annual burned area, with the 2025 season setting a record of 1 million hectares. The 20‑year average through 2025 is about 500,000 hectares annually, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

In France, fires near Bordeaux have produced unprecedented “fire clouds,” while in Spain, more than 131 square miles of land have been scorched around Madrid, leaving evacuees without a home. The fires are expected to burn for months, with temperatures projected to climb above‑average highs across fire‑ravaged areas for the next week and no rainfall on the horizon. Pedro Sánchez called the events “the most painful expression of a climate emergency,” noting that Europe is the fastest‑warming continent and the combination of abrupt shifts from wet to dry conditions and rising temperatures is driving more intense and destructive fire seasons, especially in Western and Southern Europe.