Record French wildfires under control after 92,000 hectares burn
France has contained its largest wildfire in decades, but the destruction of a record 92,000 hectares of land underscores the mounting economic toll of climate-driven extreme weather on Europe's tourism and agriculture sectors.
The worst wildfire to hit France since 1949 has been brought under control in the Gironde region near Bordeaux. Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu confirmed the development, stating that "overall, the fires are now under control in our country." He noted that in the southwest, "we have returned to a more stable situation." The coastal blaze ripped through 42,000 hectares of pine forest—an area larger than Detroit—destroyed around 240 homes and forcing 224,000 people to flee.
The sheer scale of the destruction underscores the mounting economic vulnerability of European regions to climate-driven extreme weather. Satellite data from the European Forest Fire Information System shows 92,000 hectares have burned nationwide this year, a record for the past two decades. Scientists have linked the deadly heatwaves that dried up French riverbeds to human-made climate change. For the local economy, which relies heavily on wine production and summer tourism, the fires represent a significant loss of commercial timber and a severe disruption to peak-season revenue.
Infrastructure and transit networks are now recovering. Rail traffic south of Bordeaux, interrupted since last weekend, resumed on Saturday to accommodate the late-summer movement of holidaymakers. Lecornu explicitly encouraged people to continue travelling to the region as "a gesture of solidarity" to help local businesses recoup their losses. Most of the tens of thousands of evacuees have been permitted to return to their properties.
Authorities, however, are warning against complacency. "Fire fixed doesn't mean fire out," cautioned Sophie Brocas, the Gironde prefect, pointing to two persistent "hot points." Meanwhile, the southeastern Var region is facing its own crisis, with a Friday blaze consuming land at a pace regional prefect Simon Babre described as "faster than a galloping horse." He warned the situation remained "extremely precarious," adding: "We're staying cautious, because the fight goes on."
The Var fires have burned 5,600 hectares in July alone, forcing high-profile evacuations including actor George Clooney and his family. In mid-July, a separate fire also incinerated a tenth of the UNESCO-listed Fontainebleau forest near Paris. Across the nation, police have arrested 308 individuals in connection with the blazes, with 33 currently in custody, as investigations continue into suspected causes like a spark from a brushwood-clearing machine near Bordeaux.
