{"id":58024,"date":"2026-07-28T14:09:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/58024\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T14:09:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:09:22","slug":"aerial-photos-reveal-devastation-of-france-and-spain-wildfires-with-entire-villages-ravaged-by-flames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/58024\/","title":{"rendered":"Aerial photos reveal devastation of France and Spain wildfires with entire villages ravaged by flames"},"content":{"rendered":"

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New satellite images have laid bare the devastation caused by raging wildfires<\/a> across France<\/a> and Spain<\/a>, as local officials warned the continent was \u201cat war\u201d against the rapidly spreading fires.<\/p>\n

More than 360,000 people have been evacuated, with France issuing fresh evacuation orders<\/a> for areas in Lacanau on Tuesday morning, affecting a further 4,000 people. <\/p>\n

President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> has described it as the worst disaster to face the country <\/a>since the Second World War. <\/p>\n

So far the region of Gironde, which includes Bordeaux<\/a>, has seen 42,000 hectares (103,784 acres) of land scorched to ashes and more than 240 houses destroyed, according to Remi Lassoureille, who leads the forest fire efforts in the area. <\/p>\n

Follow the latest updates here<\/a><\/p>\n

\"BeforeBefore and after images show the devastation of a house on the D106, a 41-mile route connecting the Cap Ferret peninsula with the city of Bordeaux (Planet Labs PBC)\"AerialAerial view shows damaged houses in a burned area in the city of Le Porge on 27 July (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

At least 116,000 hectares have burned in France this year since January, while Spanish president Pedro Sanchez said more than 150,000 hectares had been torched in his country during the same period. <\/p>\n

Jerome Steffe, the mayor of Cestas, a small town south of Bordeaux, told the BBC that the disaster would be remembered as the \u201cfire of the century\u201d. <\/p>\n

The worst-hit areas in France have been across the Atlantic coast, with the entirety of the Cap Ferret peninsula evacuated and several of the surrounding suburbs of Bordeaux. <\/p>\n

\"AA scorched area after a wildfire raged in La Vall d\u2019Uxio, 55km northeast of Valencia, on 28 July (AFP\/Getty)\"DamagedDamaged houses in a burnt area in the town of Le Porge, following a wildfire in the Gironde Department, southwestern France, on 27 July (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

In Spain, the regions worst affected are located west of the country\u2019s capital city of Madrid. <\/p>\n

Public transport, airports, hospitals, schools and local businesses have all been impacted by the devastation. <\/p>\n

The blaze is at risk of getting worse as both countries face an impending heatwave with temperatures set to hit 40C. Firefighters are facing a crucial window to bring the flames under control before the hotter, drier weather exacerbates the danger. <\/p>\n

\"AA drone view shows a burnt building in an area affected by a wildfire, in Le Porge, Gironde, during drought conditions, 27 July 2026 (Reuters)\"SatelliteSatellite imagery of an area near Le Porge, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, before it was affected by a wildfire (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska called it an \u201cabsolutely crucial\u201d period, with weather forecasters in both countries warning temperatures could reach 40C again in some parts as soon as Tuesday afternoon. <\/p>\n

Experts have warned that the intensity of the fires has been worsened by the impact of climate change. <\/p>\n

\"AA burnt-out building after a wildfire in Le Porge, in the Gironde Department, southwestern France, on 25 July (AFP\/Getty)\"SatelliteSatellite imagery of an area near Navaluenga, in Avila, Castile and Leon, Spain, before it was affected by a wildfire (top), 17 July; smoke rising from the area as a wildfire burns (bottom), 23 July (Reuters)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence is becoming increasingly clear. We are seeing a broader trend in which climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme wildfires around the world,\u201d Dr Beth Simons, a climate risk adviser at Practical Action, told The Independent. <\/p>\n

\u201cWildfires are not only damaging homes and livelihoods, they also pose serious risks to public health and can have lasting impacts on ecosystems, increasing the risk of other disasters such as floods.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs wildfire risk grows across Europe, investing in these people-centred approaches should be a priority, supporting everyone, including the most marginalised and vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8464,3179,825,30381,1168,5,8614,8465,148],"class_list":["post-58024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-bestof","tag-climate","tag-environment","tag-essential","tag-fire","tag-france","tag-horizontal","tag-topix","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}