Europe wildfires force 300,000 to flee as heatwaves intensify crisis

A wet winter that turbocharged vegetation growth followed by record heat has created the perfect tinderbox for Europe's most destructive wildfires since World War II.

A wet winter that fueled explosive vegetation growth, followed by record-shattering heat, has created conditions for wildfires in France and Spain that forced more than 300,000 people to evacuate — among the largest displacements in Europe since World War II.

"The fires are a monster we haven't seen before in Europe," said Francesca Di Giuseppe, fire forecast coordinator at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, describing how the continent's fastest-warming climate is intensifying fire seasons.

In southwestern France, more than 100,000 acres have burned around Bordeaux, with 40 percent more land consumed than in any previous year since records began in 2006, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. Spain has lost more than 370,000 acres this year, with the Avila fire west of Madrid — the largest ever recorded in the country — spanning 500 square kilometers. Three of the 15 largest European fires of the past decade have burned this month alone.

With a fourth heatwave forecast to hit both countries from July 29, pushing temperatures toward 40 degrees Celsius in Paris and Madrid, officials warn the fire season could extend into November. The European Union has deployed waterbombing aircraft and ground teams under its Civil Protection Mechanism, but Avincis, Europe's largest aerial emergency services firm, said the continent's firefighting fleet is now needed almost year-round.

Temperatures in Europe have risen 2.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, compared with about 1.4 degrees for the Earth on average, making the continent the world's fastest-warming region. June was the hottest on record in Western Europe, according to Copernicus, the European Union's climate monitoring service, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in some areas. Warmer air absorbs more moisture, drying out vegetation and extending the window for fires to ignite and spread.

The intensity of the blazes has produced pyrocumulonimbus clouds — fire-fueled thunderstorms that generate lightning and can carry embers to ignite new blazes — for the first time in France's recorded history. French President Emmanuel Macron described them as "real fire clouds capable of carrying the fire much farther" and said the country faces conditions it has "never experienced before." The phenomenon, previously observed during major wildfires in Australia and Canada, has created what firefighters described as a "red hell" for residents caught in the path.

Beyond climate, the abandonment of rural farmland has contributed to unmanaged forest growth, creating a massive buildup of vegetation that fuels intense fires. Some parts of Europe, such as Catalonia in northeastern Spain, now have as much forest cover as at any time in the past 100,000 years, according to Victor Resco de Dios, a forestry expert at the University of Lleida. "We have a huge amount of gasoline in our forests, which is why they burn so violently," he said, noting that the active fires near Madrid carried about as much energy as 29 of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said authorities were "starting to see the end of the tunnel" while cautioning that "difficult hours ahead" remain as a new heatwave and strong winds threaten to complicate firefighting efforts. In France, more than 220,000 residents and vacationers were evacuated at the height of the tourist season, with Macron calling the crisis possibly the most severe since World War II.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said emergency support services were coming under increasing strain as evacuations continue. "This is the pattern we are seeing more and more across Europe: heatwaves, drought and wildfires feeding into one another, and communities bearing the consequences," said Maria Alcazar Castilla, IFRC Deputy Regional Director for Europe.

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