Authorities order total evacuation of Cap Ferret peninsula as EU activates civil protection mechanism
A firefighter works to extinguish flames during a wildfire in Lege-Cap-Ferret in the Gironde department amid worsening drought conditions following a heatwave and water shortages across much of France, July 23, 2026. PHOTO: REUTERS
More than 43,000 residents and tourists have been evacuated as wildfires continue to spread in southwestern France, authorities said Friday, broadcaster BFM reported.
The largest fire, near Arcachon Bay and the Cap-Ferret peninsula in Gironde, has burned more than 8,700 hectares, according to the prefecture.
French authorities ordered the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot on the Atlantic Coast, sending boats to remove people from an area threatened by a major wildfire. The order for a total evacuation of the area, which is home to many valuable properties and is currently full of tourists enjoying their summer vacations in camp sites and rental homes, underlined the severity of the fire.
Authorities also launched maritime evacuation shuttles from the peninsula Friday morning, while road evacuations continued via the D106 highway.
Sophie Brocas, the prefect for the Nouvelle Aquitaine region, said on Friday that evacuees from the Cap Ferret peninsula could leave from piers in four villages in the area between 7am and 10am local time (0500 GMT and 0800 GMT). All those still present in those villages must leave either on the boats or by the only road linking the area with the mainland, she added.
The fire has already devastated 8,700 hectares and is still raging.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez noted that the fire that broke out Wednesday near Saumos, north of Arcachon Bay in Gironde, has already burned more than 10,000 hectares and remains out of control. “The fire continues to spread … it is difficult to contain,” he said, calling it “the largest fire of the season.”
Read: Europe swelters under heatwave
Around 40,000 people have been evacuated because of the blaze, he added. According to the minister, about 1,000 firefighters are deployed to battle the fire, supported by Civil Security personnel, military engineering units and helicopters.
Nunez said around 80 homes have been damaged by the fire, including about 50 that were completely destroyed. He also said France’s aerial firefighting fleet has already carried out two and a half times as many flight hours, water drops and missions as it did during the whole of last year’s wildfire season.
A separate wildfire near Biscarrosse in neighbouring Landes has burned more than 2,500 hectares, prompting the evacuation of more than 23,000 people, including residents, campers and holidaymakers, according to local authorities.
Landes Prefect Gilles Clavreul told BFM TV that the Biscarrosse fire remained “out of control” after continuing to spread overnight.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he had requested help from the European Union as the country’s battle against wildfires intensifies. “France has requested the activation of the European Union’s civil protection mechanism. We will soon be able to count on reinforcements from two Croatian Canadair aircraft, two Portuguese Air Tractor planes, as well as two heavy Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia,” wrote Macron on X.
La situation reste sous très forte tension face aux incendies qui frappent le pays, en particulier en Gironde.
Mes pensées vont à nos sapeurs-pompiers et aux forces de secours qui luttent sans relâche sur le front des flammes. Leur courage force le respect.…
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) July 23, 2026
Around 800 firefighters remain deployed in Gironde and about 600 are battling the fire in Landes, according to French authorities. Nunez said 330 gendarmes and six mobile gendarmerie squadrons are currently deployed in the Gironde-Landes area to assist with evacuation efforts.
No injuries have been reported in the Gironde fire, according to the prefecture.
Read More: Blaze near Paris burns on as Europe heats up
Civil Security Director Julien Marion told RTL that both fires were “totally unpredictable” because of their convective behaviour. “They evolve and spread very quickly,” he said, adding that this was why authorities had ordered preventive evacuations.
Marion also added that nearly 50,000 hectares have burned in France since the start of the wildfire season, describing it as “a completely unprecedented fire season.” Reiterating the statistic, Nunez described the wildfire in the southwestern Gironde department as the country’s largest of the season.
In southeastern France, another wildfire near Cotignac in the Var department remained stable but was not yet contained. More than 950 firefighters, backed by water-bombing aircraft and a Civil Security helicopter, continued efforts to control the blaze.
Meanwhile, France’s national forest fire service placed Haute-Garonne under its highest wildfire alert on Friday, while 27 departments remained under orange alert for elevated wildfire risk, including Gironde, Landes and Var.
France hard hit by this summer’s heatwaves
Across Europe, three heatwaves in succession this season have intensified drought, strained water supplies and left vegetation tinder-dry, helping wildfires scorch more land already this year than the annual average of the past two decades. The heat has also been blamed for thousands of deaths.
France has been particularly hard hit, with the intense heat pressuring its capacity to handle the situation.
“Our security forces are engaged in a genuine battle against the wildfires,” Nunez said on Thursday evening. “The nation stands with you.”
