In Spain, the Ávila wildfire grew into the country’s largest on record, scorching around 50,000 hectares and, when combined with nearby fires, reaching roughly 77,000 hectares by late July 2026.

A severe European wildfire season in July 2026 intensified across Spain and France, with the Ávila blaze in Spain and major fires in France’s Gironde and surrounding areas prompting evacuations and widespread destruction.

Across the affected regions, thousands of firefighters and military personnel battled the blazes, supported by aircraft dropping water and retardant and ground crews constructing firebreaks, as evacuations were gradually eased later in the month.

satellite-based monitoring played a crucial role, with real-time tools from NASA like FIRMS and Worldview tracking active fires, while European and national agencies provided ongoing situational updates.

Weather and climate conditions created a volatile landscape: a wet winter yielded dense vegetation, followed by heat waves and drought that dried fuels, with strong winds (up to about 65 km/h) accelerating spread.

France documented a rare meteorological milestone as the first wildfire-generated pyrocumulonimbus cloud formed on July 25 amid the western fires.

France experienced one of its largest fires of the decade near Bordeaux, burning more than 42,000 hectares and triggering extensive evacuations; by late July the national total exceeded 90,000 hectares, the highest in decades.