More than a quarter of a million people have fled their homes in France and Spain as wildfires rage across southern Europe, with Spain declaring its first national emergency over a blaze and Scotland calling for military aerial support to tackle a major fire in the Highlands.
Speaking at the command post in Ávila on Sunday morning, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, warned that “difficult hours” lay ahead, while acknowledging that overnight efforts had been “very positive in terms of the fire’s evolution”. He urged people to “take huge care and to stay up to date”, and criticised the spread of “fake news” on social media claiming the fires had been started deliberately to clear land for solar panels or mining.
“Over 250,000 flee France and Spain wildfires; Spain declares first national emergency; Scotland seeks UK military aid.”
The scale of the crisis is staggering. Spain’s environment ministry reported 32 major forest fires so far this year, compared with just seven over the same period in 2025. In southwestern France, the interior minister spoke of a “long and very difficult battle” against a fire that has forced the evacuation of some Bordeaux suburbs, with soldiers now deployed to assist.
A major fire west of Madrid has driven 70,000 people from their homes alone, while across Sicily firefighters are tackling numerous blazes. The French and Spanish evacuations are among the largest peacetime civilian operations ever carried out in France, affecting more than 250,000 people.
Sánchez noted that the entire Iberian peninsula is “suffering the effects of the climate emergency in a very specific way”, with fires, heavy snowfalls and storms all hitting Spain and neighbouring Portugal. Scientists say climate breakdown is making extreme weather more frequent and severe, with Europe heating at about twice the global average.
In Scotland, police declared a major incident after a change in wind accelerated a fire in the Cairngorms National Park, prompting precautionary evacuations. The Scottish government has asked for aerial support from the UK military to boost the response.
“We’ll see what happens today,” Sánchez said, “but I’d once again like to urge people to take huge care.”