France and Spain prepared for their fourth heatwave of the summer on 29 July 2026. Temperatures were forecast to reach the high 30s to low 40s Celsius, which means dangerously hot, well above what the human body easily handles. Firefighters in both countries were already fighting large wildfires that have defined the entire season. The Guardian's Europe Live blog, written by Jakub Krupa, followed the crisis throughout the day. (The Guardian)

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu delayed his holiday to stay in Paris and manage the wildfire response. The crisis has already forced 220,000 people to leave their homes in the Gironde region alone. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez is overseeing the domestic security response. (U.S. News)

The main fire in Gironde, named the "Incendie de Saumos" after the town of Saumos, had burned an area four times the size of Paris as of 28 July. That evening, the fire flared up again 14 separate times. Firefighters managed to control each one through ground-level action. (Gironde Prefecture) Prefect Sophie Brocas, the senior official in charge of Gironde and the surrounding region, confirmed on the morning of 29 July that the fire remained contained, with several flare-ups quickly brought under control. (The Guardian)

The French response is large in scale. About 700 firefighters had been sent to the Gironde fire as of 23 July, according to Brocas. (WSLS) By 29 July, 65 French departments (local government areas similar to counties) were placed on high fire risk warning. Brocas had earlier banned all forestry work and activities using combustion engines in Gironde, a step designed to prevent accidental fires from sparks or hot machinery. (RFI) She also ordered the evacuation of the town of Lacanau, targeting campsites, tourist residences, and holiday villages. (Gironde Prefecture)

Éric Brocardi, communications director for the French Firefighters Federation, struck a confident tone on BFMTV on 29 July: "We will win this war." (The Guardian)

In Spain, the main forest fire near Madrid remained stable overnight on 28–29 July, with no significant flare-ups. However, the Spanish government's regional representatives in Madrid warned of "extreme" fire danger in parts of the Madrid region. AEMET, Spain's national weather agency, issued a heatwave advisory on 28 July covering the Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Islands, and the Canary Islands. The agency issued a heatwave warning for 30 July with a maximum temperature of 40°C, active from 13:00 to 20:59. (The Guardian)

On the French weather side, Météo-France issued a heatwave alert at 06:40 Paris time on 29 July covering Thursday 30 July. Two areas near Paris, Val-de-Marne (94) and Val-d'Oise (95), were placed under heatwave vigilance. (Météo-France Vigilance) Weather bulletins for Moselle (57) and Savoie (73) noted rising temperatures but no special alert in effect. (Météo-France Moselle, Météo-France Savoie)

This crisis follows an already extraordinary summer. Météo-France reported that June 2026 was the hottest June ever recorded in France, driven by a heatwave from 17 to 30 June that the agency described as early, long-lasting, and very intense, placing 72 departments under the highest alert level. (Météo-France) In Spain, June 2026 was the second warmest June on record, with an average temperature of 23.3°C, 3.2°C above the normal monthly average. (AEMET)

The wildfires have not stayed in the southwest. A fire broke out outside Paris in mid-July, prompting the deployment of water-bomber aircraft, which are planes designed to drop large amounts of water on fires. At that time, about 26 million people in France, including the greater Paris region, were under the highest heatwave warning. (Reuters) The Gironde fires were burning roughly 15 km from the main Bordeaux city area as of 27 July, threatening the wine region. (Reuters) Wild weather across the continent added to the difficulties: hail struck the Balkans on 21 July while fires continued in Spain and France, and as of 17 July, both countries were making progress against large wildfires even as drought and storms persisted elsewhere in Europe. (Reuters, Reuters)

The broader context here is one of mounting climate pressure on European emergency systems. France has now faced four separate heatwaves since late June, and each one has arrived before the previous one's fires were fully brought under control. The Gironde fire alone has forced a population roughly the size of Nantes to flee their homes. The fact that fires are burning close to both Bordeaux and Paris makes clear this is not just a problem for the Mediterranean coast. There is a political side as well: Lecornu's decision to cancel his holiday reflects the kind of judgment European leaders now face more and more often, where being seen as absent during a natural disaster carries real political risk. The practical question is whether containment can hold through a fourth heatwave peak, particularly in Gironde, where the fire's behaviour, 14 flare-ups in a single evening, suggests smouldering deep underground that surface-level firefighting may not fully reach.

With both AEMET and Météo-France pointing toward continued high temperatures through at least 30 July, and with 65 French departments on high fire risk alert, the next 48 hours will test whether the containment lines built over the past week can survive another surge of heat. The firefighters' federation's confident statement is set against a fire season that, by every measure available, has already gone beyond what used to be considered normal.