Wildfires have burned 42,000 hectares near Bordeaux

Wildfires burning across the Gironde department of southwest France – the region that contains Bordeaux and the surrounding appellation network – had burned approximately 42,000 hectares as of 27 July 2026, according to the Gironde prefecture, forcing the evacuation of approximately 220,000 people. The fires began in the forests west of Bordeaux and have been described by France’s interior minister Laurent Nuñez as generating “erratic” behaviour including pyrocumulonimbus events – fire-generated thunderstorms creating their own lightning – not previously recorded in France. As of 30 July, the fires were broadly stable but not contained, with the prefecture warning that rising temperatures expected this week could worsen conditions. Across France as a whole, approximately 115,000 hectares had burned in wildfires so far in 2026, according to Interior Minister Nuñez, described as “far more than anything we have seen in the past.”