Macron mobilizes the army to step up the fight against forest fires

Lège-Cap-Ferret – 24 July 2026: President Emmanuel Macron called on the French armed forces to provide civil protection with maximum support in combating severe forest fires in southwestern France. According to sources close to him, the president responded in this way to the further escalation of the situation in Gironde and the Landes department, where the fires caused numerous evacuations.

At the center of the crisis is a fire that broke out on Wednesday near Samos, north of the Arcachon Basin. On Friday, the prefecture ordered the preventive evacuation of the entire Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula. At the height of the tourist season, the area is particularly densely populated; residents, holidaymakers and workers were forced to leave the peninsula. Hundreds of firefighters and firefighting aircraft are deployed there.

At the same time, another forest fire spread near Biscarrosse in the north of the Landes department. The prefect of Landes ordered the preventive evacuation of the municipality of Parentis-en-Born, with nearly 8,000 inhabitants. An operational crisis command center was activated at the prefecture to coordinate firefighting efforts, traffic management measures and the accommodation of those affected. The two major fires are simultaneously straining regional resources.

Macron’s order is primarily of operational significance. The armed forces are not to take over civilian command of operations, but are to provide specialized capabilities: transport capacity, logistics, technical equipment, military firefighting units and support in securing operational areas. Even before the current escalation, military units had been involved in summer forest-fire prevention, including by providing engineering equipment, helicopters and personnel.

On 23 July, the Ministry of the Interior also announced the testing of a military transport aircraft of the Airbus A400M type for firefighting. The aircraft is to be equipped with a dropping system that can primarily create firebreaks using fire suppressant. It complements the Sécurité civile fleet but does not replace its conventional firefighting aircraft. Its rapid availability for current operations initially remained uncertain.

The events demonstrate the institutional division of labor: prefectures, fire services and civil protection remain responsible for firefighting and evacuations. The army is deployed as reinforcement upon request when the scale, duration and simultaneous spread of fires in different areas overwhelm civilian resources. Political responsibility lies with the Ministry of the Interior and the president as commander-in-chief.

For the affected coastal regions, the situation also has economic significance. Evacuations during the tourist season affect campsites, tourism businesses and transport infrastructure. However, the safety of the population and emergency responders remains the priority. Whether the fires near Lège-Cap-Ferret and Biscarrosse can be quickly contained depends largely on wind, drought and the availability of additional firefighting resources.