Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez has said authorities “can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against wildfires”.
Speaking at a press conference in Madrid, Sánchez said there were still “complex days and hours ahead” as the emergency response continued amid concerns about the impact of the upcoming fourth heatwave.
He said authorities “will continue to mobilise all resources until the last flame is extinguished”.
The prime minister also repeated that the fires serve as a strong reminder that the government urgently needs to plan for the climate emergency, which he says is “worsening year after year”.
He urged local governments to fall behind the government’s strategy on climate, saying that “climate denial is the worst fuel against the climate emergency”.
France, meanwhile, is bracing for its fourth major heatwave of the year on Tuesday as soaring temperatures and tinder-dry conditions across the southwest piled pressure on crews battling a giant wildfire in the Bordeaux region.
Temperatures in Bordeaux are forecast to reach 33 degrees during the day, about 7 degrees above average.
French president Emmanuel Macron warned conditions would get tougher as he visited a firefighting operations centre in the hard-hit region of Gironde, where the blaze has caused uncontrollable “firestorms”.
“We are facing a situation today that is the most difficult we’ve seen, the most difficult since the second World War,” he told emergency responders, noting that the usual August peak of the wildfire season is still to come.
Fire crews had contained the blaze overnight, but the situation remained difficult, Nathalie Delattre, senator for Gironde which covers the city of Bordeaux, said.
“Everything will depend on how the firefighters on the ground get on,” she told BFM TV on Tuesday.
More than 250,000 people have been evacuated in France, where a fire of record size has reached the outer suburbs of the city of Bordeaux, while the largest fire in Spain’s history has forced more than 90,000 people from their homes.
Forest fires burning to the west of Bordeaux over the past 7 days. Source: NASA FIRMS 
Firefighters attempt to halt the spread of wildfires in the Madrid border region. Photograph: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images
The national weather agencies of both countries warned a heatwave expected to bring temperatures as high as 42 degrees later this week would hinder firefighting efforts and make the risk of new blazes extremely high.
“There are difficult hours ahead,” Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez said in a visit to a firefighting command centre, saying the priority was to save lives and protect population centres.
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The climate emergency and the systematic increase in temperatures we are seeing each year are exponentially increasing the extent and intensity of the wildfires,” Sánchez said. “It is no longer an exception. It is the rule.”
Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to shelter inside their houses as the fires sent plumes of toxic smoke over built-up areas.
The Landes area, southwest of Bordeaux, is covered by pine forests, which become highly flammable when dry. The fire has burned down 42,000 hectares so far.
Authorities have evacuated about 220,000 people, including holidaymakers and local residents.
In the area of Biscarrosse, a town about 40km south, which was hit by another wildfire last week, the situation has improved and some 15,000 evacuated people were gradually allowed back home in the town and a campsite nearby, the local administration said on X.
“However, (the favourable) development does not mean the risk has been eliminated. Flare-ups remain possible, particularly due to weather conditions [wind, drought, etc.),” it said.
As well as the record-breaking fire in the Gironde region, thought to have been caused accidentally by a brush-clearing machine, French firefighters were also combating major fires in Corsica, and in the Var, Landes, and Hautes-Alpes regions.
In Spain, major wildfires have been advancing through the regions of Toledo and Ávila, and the western part of the region of the capital city, Madrid.
The Spanish government forbid the use of agricultural machinery in the hardest-hit regions to reduce the risk of sparking new fires, while forests in southwest France were under “black alert”, banning all visitors and the use of any engines.
Forest fires burning less then 50km to the west of Madrid over the past seven days. Source: Nasa Firms 
A campsite next to Pantano de San Juan following wildfires in Pelayos de la Presa, near Madrid. Photograph: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images
Speaking after an emergency meeting of the French government on Monday, France’s interior minister Laurent Nuñez described this year’s wildfires as “completely exceptional”.
More than 116,000 hectares of forest and vegetation have been burned in France since January, far exceeding the 70,000 hectares reported for the whole of 2025.
Spain’s government said the 172,000 hectares of forested land burned this year was six times greater than in the same period of 2025.
France’s minister for ecological transition, Monique Barbut, said that figures were not yet available to gauge the impact of the fires on wildlife, “but it is clear that the figures will be catastrophic by the end of the summer”. Additional reporting: Reuters/Guardian
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