About 3,000 firefighters remained deployed across two major wildfire fronts in France on Sunday as crews worked to stop contained flames from reigniting in hot, windy conditions. The Associated Press reported that the vast Gironde fire near Bordeaux was contained within its perimeter but still burning, while another blaze in the southeastern Var department had stopped expanding overnight without yet being declared contained.
The Gironde fire burned roughly 420 square kilometres in 10 days and forced 224,000 people to evacuate, making the emergency one of the largest peacetime evacuations in modern French history. Authorities said many thousands remained displaced or unable to return home. Crews continued extinguishing hot spots, cutting firebreaks and securing burned forest while the region stayed under France's highest red forest-fire alert.
In Var, nearly 1,500 firefighters fought a fire that crossed about 18 square kilometres in little more than a day. Officials said its perimeter stabilized on Sunday morning, but firefighting aircraft continued protecting villages among vineyards, olive groves and wooded hills. About 2,500 people evacuated as the flames threatened communities in the area known as Green Provence.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the country's fires were generally under control but warned that conditions could change quickly. He appointed a national coordinator to oversee reconstruction in affected areas. More than 1,170 square kilometres have burned across France since the start of 2026, according to figures cited by the Associated Press, underscoring the scale of recovery ahead.
European support has supplemented national operations throughout the wider emergency. The European Commission said its Civil Protection Mechanism had sent aircraft and helicopters from several countries to France and used Copernicus satellite mapping to support responders. The EU's strategic rescEU reserve includes 22 planes and five helicopters for situations in which national offers do not meet operational needs.
Climate and monitoring data place the fires in a broader environmental trend. A rapid analysis cited by the Associated Press found that human-caused climate change doubled the likelihood of extreme fire conditions associated with the French blazes. The EU Joint Research Centre said 254,388 hectares had burned in the bloc by July 22, above the long-term average, and that Europe is warming far faster than the global average. Authorities face the immediate task of preventing new flare-ups before longer reconstruction and ecosystem recovery can begin.
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