France has asked the European Union for extra emergency assistance as firefighters struggle to contain several major wildfires, with tens of thousands of people evacuated and flames threatening tourist areas on the Atlantic coast.
President Emmanuel Macron said France had activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to request additional aerial firefighting support.
Two Croatian Canadair water bombers, two Portuguese Air Tractors and two heavy firefighting helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia are expected to reinforce French emergency services.
At the same time, the European Commission has announced the deployment of three additional water-bombing aircraft and two helicopters under this assistance mechanism.
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
The most serious fire is burning in Gironde, north of the Arcachon basin. The blaze, which began near Saumos on Wednesday, had burned around 4,800 hectares by Friday morning, destroyed several homes and forced nearly 20,000 people to evacuate.
Around 800 firefighters have been deployed, while the fire has reached the northern part of the Cap-Ferret peninsula, a popular tourist destination, which also needed to be evacuated.
Authorities also ordered the evacuation of several villages on the peninsula after the fire crossed a line established by firefighters to contain its advance.
Marc Vermeulen, the commander of rescue operations, described the blaze as unpredictable, saying it could suddenly intensify as heat generated powerful winds that further fed the flames.
A second major fire near Biscarrosse, in the Landes department, had burned more than 1,000 hectares and led to the evacuation of around 9,000 people. The blaze was reportedly started by a vehicle and spread rapidly through the surrounding forest. Some 300 firefighters were mobilised.
Colonel Romain Moutard, deputy director of the local fire departement described Thursday evening an “apocalyptic fire” and a “Dantesque” situation, with jumps of fires that have multiplied, “creating almost a full-fledged fire each time.” At midnight “the situation remained very unfavorable”, especially because of “turning winds,” he said.
Other fires have also been burning in southern France, including in the Var department, where a blaze had covered around 2,700 hectares. The simultaneous outbreaks have placed considerable pressure on French firefighting resources during a period of extreme heat, dry vegetation and strong winds.
The European reinforcements come on top of assistance already mobilised earlier this month.
France activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism on July 5, prompting the deployment of four rescEU firefighting aircraft from Sweden and Cyprus, while the EU’s wider 2026 wildfire preparedness plan includes 777 firefighters from 14 countries pre-positioned across high-risk areas.
According to the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, more than 12,500 fires have been recorded since the beginning of the year and 44,000 hectares have already gone up in smoke.
The fires are part of a wider wave of wildfires affecting southern Europe.
Spain has also seen major evacuations and large fires, while Italy has reported dozens of fires and the death of a firefighter in Sicily. European Commission data cited by Le Monde showed that more than 254,000 hectares had been burned by fires across Europe since the beginning of the year by 23 July.
The immediate cause of the Gironde fire was still under investigation, although authorities believe it was probably accidental.
