More than 250,000 people flee wildfires in France and Spain

A fire in El Tiemblo, to the west of Madrid. Spain has declared a national emergency over the wildfires for the first time ever. Photograph: César Manso/AFP/Getty Images View image in fullscreen A fire in El Tiemblo, to the west of Madrid. Spain has declared a national emergency over the wildfires for the first time ever. Photograph: César Manso/AFP/Getty Images More than 250,000 people flee wildfires in France and Spain Hundreds of firefighters battle blazes as strong winds drive fires towards Bordeaux and smoke prompts health warnings in Madrid Unrestrained wildfires in Spain and France have forced more than 250,000 people to flee, authorities from both countries have said, as they struggle to contain the blazes. About 70,000 people were evacuated from central Spain , while 197,000 people fled in France, including tens of thousands from the wine region city of Bordeaux. Spain declared a national emergency over the fires, the first time the country has ever done so over a wildfire. Hundreds of firefighters have worked to contain the blazes, which have been fuelled by persistent heatwaves and the climate crisis, but were still unable to stop their advance. In Spain, high winds were exacerbating the fires, and two of the three merged on Friday. France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said a huge military cargo plane, the Airbus A400M Atlas, was being deployed to join 18 other aircraft in the “long and very difficult” battle against wildfires in the Gironde region of south-western France. 0:59 Firefighters in Spain and France battle raging wildfires – video The French government has called in the military to help and has rushed 1.5m face masks to help protect people from smoke inhalation. Fire crews have also been digging trenches, as well as using retardants, as winds were forecast to push the fires closer to Bordeaux. Wildfires were reported to be about 20 miles west of the city. The French government ordered people in the path of the fire to evacuate, including people from Bordeaux’s western suburbs. Police went door to door to tell people to leave, with scenes of panic unfolding as residents fled their homes under a sky darkened by smoke. The Gironde regional prefect, Sophie Brocas, said on Friday that strong winds were driving the fire towards the Bordeaux metro area and that it had grown to “an unprecedented magnitude”. View image in fullscreen People who have been evacuated from their homes in the Bordeaux-Lac exhibition centre, which has been turned into a shelter for people displaced by wildfires. Photograph: Manon Cruz/Reuters Officials said the sudden blazes caught residents and authorities off guard. In France, people had to flee by boat when the flames headed towards towns on the coast. The French prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said the fire in Gironde was so strong that it had begun generating its own winds. “The fires that are hitting our country have reached a level that has never been seen before,” he wrote on X. “Our priori