A raging wildfire in southwestern France has driven 10,000 people from their homes across approximately two dozen small towns and villages situated near the border with Spain, and officials are warning that powerful winds Monday could make the situation significantly worse.
The blaze has already consumed around 4,600 hectares in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, according to local prefect Pierre Regnault de la Mothe, who shared the update on the social media platform X.
France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez appeared on French television network TF1 Monday morning to deliver a grim assessment. “This morning conditions are deteriorating again,” he said. “Today the battle resumes.”
Unusually intense heat waves that swept across France and much of western Europe during May and June have left large stretches of land parched and highly susceptible to wildfire this season.
The fire, known as the Trevillach blaze, is burning close to the route of the Tour de France’s third stage. Local authorities have shut down that portion of the race to the general public so that emergency responders can move through the area freely. While the race itself will continue, the convoy of team support vehicles that normally accompanies it will be significantly reduced.
Across the border in Spain, the fire burned through 2,200 hectares — with 97 percent of that damage occurring within the protected natural area of Les Gavarres. Catalan officials reported late Saturday that the fire on the Spanish side had stabilized and was expected to be fully extinguished by the end of the week.
Authorities have arrested a worker employed by a company contracted by Catalonia’s regional government. The suspect is believed to have accidentally ignited the wildfire while using an angle grinder along the side of a road.
Further south, in Spain’s eastern Castellon province, another wildfire prompted the evacuation of 500 people after it spread into the Sierra de Espadan national park, an area known for its significant cork oak forest.
