Fires: 4,800 Hectares Burned and 20,000 Evacuated in Gironde, 1,200 Hectares Destroyed and 5,000 Evacuated in Landes

The South-West is in the grip of two major fires, favoured by an unusual drought. More than 6,000 hectares in total were ravaged in Gironde and Landes, and 25,000 people had to be evacuated.

Some 800 firefighters continue to fight on the night of Thursday July 23 to Friday July 24, 2026 against the fire, probably of accidental origin, which covered 4,800 hectares north of the Arcachon basin (Gironde), to protect homes and prevent the fire from spreading towards the very touristy Cap Ferret.

In the neighboring department of Landes, another fire broke out early Thursday evening in Biscarrosse and has already covered 1,200 hectares, leading to the evacuation of 5,000 people, the department prefecture told l’Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Some 250 firefighters were mobilized to fight against this fire located between the very touristy seaside resort and the town of Sanguinet inland.

But it’s in Gironde that the situation is the most worrying. The fire has now covered 4,800 hectares and threatens Lège-Cap-Ferret, a town of 8,000 permanent residents but populated by tens of thousands of tourists in the summer, where several houses burned, according to the prefecture which ordered the preventive evacuation of nearly 20,000 people.

The defense of Lège-Cap-Ferret, on the edge of the forest massif, is taking place “island by island, house by house”, underlined Marc Vermeulen, director of SDIS in Gironde.

The most threatened district of the city was evacuated preventively on Wednesday evening and residents are confined to their homes, worried about the evolution of the fire.

“We are not calm at all. We’re waiting to see how it goes but just now, we weren’t far from leaving. There was an extremely threatening column of fire, a few hundred meters away, testifies John Wilmes, 46 years old.

At the end of the afternoon, the mayor of the town, Philippe de Gonneville, spoke of a situation “worrying” with a mercury above 30 degrees and “fairly strong winds”.

In total, more than 20,000 people were preventively evacuated from this sector of the Landes de Gascogne forest, four years after the nightmare of summer 2022.

A public information unit has been set up, reachable on 09 70 80 90 40.

“Drought worse than in 2022”

Leaving Saumos at midday on Wednesday, the fire spread to Le Porge before moving towards Lège-Cap-Ferret, progressing very quickly in a dense pine forest. Thursday it was “content” but “very erratic” with numerous “fire jumps”, according to Comptroller General Marc Vermeulen.

With 200 land assets and eight aerial aircraft, including a Dash and two Canadairs, the firefighters also fought all day on the left flank “to avoid propagation towards Ares”. They also had to attack “a violent recovery” towards Saumos.

According to the director of SDIS, “the state of drought in the massif is worse than in 2022”, which makes the conditions of struggle “more difficult”, that the winds forecast for the night risk worsening. However, as soon as possible, the firefighters will try to “find a way to get the head of fire”.

Since Wednesday evening, around 20,000 people, mostly in campsites, have been evacuated from the area threatened by the flames and around fifteen reception centers have been opened nearby.

“The police came to knock on each of the houses. The fire was about 500 meters away, told the’ on ThursdayAFP Patrick Martineau, 69 years old, resident of Porge. “We’re a little scared and hard to realize! It’s surreal. When we bought here six years ago, we didn’t think about the risk of fire. “

“We come here every year, it’s terrible”, confides Elke Urbain, 50, a Belgian tourist from Antwerp, evacuated from a campsite in Lège-Cap-Ferret.

Forestry work prohibited

According to several sources interviewed by l’AFP, the fire could have been started by a clearing machine which was working under a power line on behalf of Enedis in the middle of pine forests in Saumos.

The accidental track is favored by the authorities and the prefecture has banned it “all forestry work using thermal engines” in the department until further notice. On Wednesday, they were still allowed until 1 p.m.

According to the government, more than 12,500 fires have occurred since January and the area already burned exceeds that of 2022, when fires covered nearly 30,000 hectares in the Landes de Gascogne forest, forcing the evacuation of some 50,000 people. More than 3,000 hectares had already burned at the time around Saumos.

Forests catch fire all the more easily as vegetation and soils have been very dry for months, a phenomenon accentuated by recent exceptional heatwaves. According to a study published Thursday by climatologists from the World Weather Attribution group, climate change caused by human activities is making the current drought more severe.

The fire in Gironde comes after two firefighters died on Tuesday during a fire near Bordeaux airport, following a previous death in Savoie in early July. The profession’s unions denounce a lack of resources and the “exhaustion” of troops.