Spain lifted a state of emergency on Thursday, July 30, 2026, over wildfires threatening areas west of Madrid. The blaze has burned approximately 27,000 hectares and destroyed at least 100 homes since last week, according to a local official. Meanwhile, residents and firefighters continued efforts to extinguish advancing wildfires near Formariz in Zamora province, Spain.

In France, temperatures cooled near the wine capital of Bordeaux, raising hopes that a massive forest fire in a seaside pine forest was no longer spreading. This fire has displaced around 220,000 people and destroyed about 240 homes, marking France's worst wildfire since 1949. The regional firefighting service reported that the fire, which broke out a week ago, had not progressed beyond 42,000 hectares—an area larger than the US city of Detroit—since the weekend.

Firefighting chief Marc Vermeulen said around midday that "we've just reached a new threshold, a kind of tipping point," noting that hotspots had dropped from six to three since the morning. Local authorities have started allowing residents to return home in nine villages affected by the fire.

The ongoing heatwaves and drought gripping Europe this year have been attributed by scientists to human-caused climate change. In Bordeaux, Uber driver Kevin Montmartre, who has been forced to evacuate three times since the blaze began, said the increased frequency of wildfires was making him reconsider his home in the beach town of Andernos-les-Bains. He added, "Honestly, I've talked it over with my wife, and if there's another one in the coming years, we'll sell the house."

Despite some flare-ups, firefighters remain reasonably optimistic about containment efforts.

Sources