{"id":608256,"date":"2026-07-28T13:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/608256\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T13:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T13:25:14","slug":"spanish-authorities-see-light-at-end-of-tunnel-in-battle-to-contain-wildfires-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/608256\/","title":{"rendered":"Spanish authorities \u2018see light at end of tunnel\u2019 in battle to contain wildfires \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spanish <\/a>prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/a> has said authorities \u201ccan begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against wildfires\u201d. <\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference in Madrid, S\u00e1nchez said there were still \u201ccomplex days and hours ahead\u201d as the emergency response continued amid concerns about the impact of the upcoming fourth heatwave. <\/p>\n

He said authorities \u201cwill continue to mobilise all resources until the last flame is extinguished\u201d. <\/p>\n

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 \u201cworsening year after year\u201d. <\/p>\n

He urged local governments to fall behind the government\u2019s strategy on climate, saying that \u201cclimate denial is the worst fuel against the climate emergency\u201d. <\/p>\n

France<\/a>, meanwhile, is bracing for its fourth major heatwave of the year on Tuesday as soaring temperatures and \u200ctinder-dry conditions across the southwest piled pressure on crews battling a giant wildfire in the Bordeaux region.<\/p>\n

Temperatures \u200bin Bordeaux are forecast to reach 33 degrees during the day, about 7 degrees above average. <\/p>\n

French president Emmanuel Macron<\/a> warned conditions would get tougher<\/a> as he visited a firefighting operations centre in the hard-hit region of Gironde, where the blaze has caused uncontrollable \u201cfirestorms\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are facing a situation today that is the most difficult we\u2019ve seen, the most difficult since the second World War,\u201d he told emergency responders, noting that the usual August peak of the wildfire season is still to come.<\/p>\n

Fire crews had contained the blaze overnight, but the situation remained difficult, Nathalie Delattre, senator for Gironde \u2060which covers the city of \u200bBordeaux, said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Ash fell from the sky\u2019: Tourists describe fleeing \u2018apocalyptic\u2019 wildfires in FranceOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything will depend on how \u200bthe firefighters on the ground get on,\u201d she told BFM TV on \u200cTuesday.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s history has forced more than 90,000 people from their homes.<\/p>\n

\"ForestForest fires burning to the west of Bordeaux over the past 7 days. Source: NASA FIRMS \"FirefightersFirefighters attempt to halt the spread of wildfires in the Madrid border region. Photograph: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are difficult hours ahead,\u201d Spanish prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez<\/a> said in a visit to a firefighting command centre, saying the priority was to save lives and protect population centres.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Why Europe\u2019s wildfires are proving so fierce and difficult to stopOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The climate emergency<\/a> and the systematic increase in temperatures we are seeing each year are exponentially increasing the extent and intensity of the wildfires,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said. \u201cIt is no longer an exception. It is the rule.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Landes area, southwest of \u2060Bordeaux, is \u200bcovered by pine forests, which become highly flammable when dry. The fire has burned down 42,000 hectares so far.<\/p>\n

Authorities have evacuated about 220,000 people, including holidaymakers and local residents.<\/p>\n

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 \u200cgradually allowed back home in \u2060the town and a campsite nearby, the local administration said on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, (the favourable) development does not mean the risk has been eliminated. \u200cFlare-ups remain possible, particularly due to weather conditions [wind, drought, etc.),\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In Spain, major wildfires have been advancing through the regions of Toledo and \u00c1vila, and the western part of the region of the capital city, Madrid.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cblack alert\u201d, banning all visitors and the use of any engines.<\/p>\n

\"ForestForest fires burning less then 50km to the west of Madrid over the past seven days. Source: Nasa Firms \"AA campsite next to Pantano de San Juan following wildfires in Pelayos de la Presa, near Madrid. Photograph: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Speaking after an emergency meeting of the French government on Monday, France\u2019s interior minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez described this year\u2019s wildfires as \u201ccompletely exceptional\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Spain\u2019s government said the 172,000 hectares of forested land burned this year was six times greater than in the same period of 2025.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s minister for ecological transition, Monique Barbut, said that figures were not yet available to gauge the impact of the fires on wildlife, \u201cbut it is clear that the figures will be catastrophic by the end of the summer\u201d. Additional reporting: Reuters\/Guardian<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Europe\u2019s wildfires may continue to burn until November, EU officials warnOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spanish prime minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez has said authorities \u201ccan begin to see the light at the end of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,6586,13,14,2220,6,11,12,15,16,5,81065,383,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-608256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-france","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-pedro-sanchez","tag-spain","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}