Europe wildfires: ‘Difficult hours lie ahead’ in battle to contain fires, says Pedro Sánchez as more than 300,000 flee homes in France and Spain

Wildfires racing across France and Spain have forced more than three hundred thousand people from their homes, in what The Guardian describes as one of the largest peacetime civilian evacuations France has ever carried out. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says difficult hours still lie ahead in the effort to bring the fires under control. Spain's environment ministry has recorded thirty-two major forest fires so far this year, compared with just seven over the same period in 2025 — a jump officials link to Europe warming at roughly twice the global average rate.

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