France reports 32 active fires and 50,000 hectares burned

Biscarrosse – 24 July 2026: France is under considerable pressure as numerous vegetation and forest fires are burning simultaneously. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez put the area burned since the start of the year at around 50,000 hectares on Friday. According to the ministry, 32 fires remained active nationwide. By mid-summer, the fire season has already reached a scale that is placing severe strain on the operational reserves of civil protection services and the affected departments.

The situation is particularly critical on the Atlantic coast in the Landes department. Between Biscarrosse and Parentis-en-Born, a fire that broke out on the afternoon of Thursday, 23 July, had spread to more than 2,500 hectares by Friday morning. According to the prefecture, the fire was not under control at that point; wind and dry conditions were hampering operations. Authorities therefore expect the situation to remain highly volatile.

As a precaution, more than 23,000 people were brought to safety, including residents of Biscarrosse and Parentis-en-Born as well as guests at several campsites, a nursing home and a holiday group. Around 600 firefighters and more than 70 gendarmes were deployed, and additional personnel were requested. Air support was due to resume at daybreak. The prefect of Landes, Gilles Clavreul, activated the departmental operations center to coordinate the measures.

The figures highlight a strategic challenge extending beyond individual major fires. France expanded its national wildfire preparedness after the severe fires of 2022 and officially launched the 2026 season in early June with an expanded civil protection deployment. This includes ground units, aircraft and cooperation among prefectures. However, simultaneous fires in several regions limit the ability to redeploy personnel and aircraft at short notice.

At the beginning of July, the government had already convened an interministerial crisis unit because of heat and increasing fires in southern France. At the time, services recorded around 7,000 fire ignitions since the start of the season, according to official figures. Authorities estimate that nine out of ten forest and vegetation fires are caused by human activity and are therefore generally preventable. The focus is therefore on bans on open fires, protecting settlement edges and the mandatory removal of flammable vegetation around buildings.

For the authorities, protecting the population now takes priority over an early assessment of damage. Evacuees are not to return to affected areas until the fire brigade and gendarmerie have cleared the situation. Developments in Biscarrosse are also becoming a test of the state’s ability to rapidly concentrate resources amid prolonged heat, wind and several parallel fires. A final assessment of the damage is currently not possible.