Firefighters in France and Spain have managed to contain the vast wildfires near Bordeaux and Madrid, at least for now, officials in the two countries said. But they warned that the battle was far from over, with temperatures set to rise on Wednesday.
Officials in the Bordeaux region, where a fire has come within six miles of a factory that helps to build nuclear missiles, said on Wednesday morning that the night had been “calm” and that several overnight flare-ups had been contained. Laurent Nuñez, the French interior minister, said on Tuesday night that two smaller fires elsewhere in southern France had been brought under control.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on Wednesday morning that the battle against the fires around Madrid, the largest in modern Spanish history, continued to evolve “favorably.” He shared a mixed message of optimism and caution, saying that firefighters were dousing hot spots to prevent flare-ups as temperatures surged.
“The next 12 hours are going to be very important — decisive,” Mr. Sánchez said.
The European Forest Fire Information System said parts of southwestern France and northern Spain would remain under “very extreme fire conditions” on Wednesday. Some areas could see temperatures of 42 degrees Celsius (108 Fahrenheit) or even higher, the agency said. Large swaths of Spain were expected to see scorching temperatures for the rest of the week.
Much of Western Europe is in the grip of another spell of intense heat, the continent’s fourth since May. Officials have warned that a combination of prolonged dry weather, gusty winds, extreme temperatures and low humidity would significantly increase the risk of new wildfires igniting and existing blazes spreading.
Blandine Sarrazin, the mayor of Le Barp, a village near Bordeaux, said on social media on Wednesday that firefighters had managed to contain three flare-ups there over the past 24 hours. “The situation is getting tougher,” she warned, urging people to remain “extremely vigilant.”
In Le Porge, the French village hit hardest by the blaze, the situation was still “critical,” said the mayor, Martial Zaninetti. Of the 240 houses burned in the area near Bordeaux since the fire broke out last Wednesday, more than 180 were in Le Porge. “We have toxic fumes and serious CO2 poisoning issues, so please do not come until the area has been made safe,” he said on social media.
The office of Sophie Brocas, the prefect of the French region around Bordeaux, warned that “unfavorable” weather conditions were expected on Wednesday and Thursday, including high winds and falling humidity. There was also a chance of thunderstorms, raising the prospect of lightning strikes that could cause a resurgence in the major blaze that firefighters have been battling.
In the area around Madrid, restrictions have been lifted for about half of the roughly 90,000 residents who had been ordered to evacuate or remain in place, Spanish officials said.
In eastern Spain, a separate fire near Valencia, which has burned almost 23,000 acres, remained active and had not been brought under control, officials said. But some residents in that area who had been ordered to evacuate were being allowed to return.
“We were eager to see our homes,” Maria Gavara of the town of Vilavella, who works for the municipal government there, said on Tuesday. “We escaped the wolf’s jaws — the blinds in my house melted.”
But in another nearby town, Caudiel, residents were notified on Tuesday night that they might soon have to leave. The fire was about 20 kilometers, or 12 miles, from the town. No evacuation order had been issued as of Wednesday afternoon.
In Betxí, another town in the Valencia region, some residents set up a tent with supplies for firefighters on Tuesday, in front of a cemetery on a road leading to one of the fire’s active fronts. As several fire trucks pulled in for a shift change, the residents greeted them with enthusiastic applause, and a woman handed out pastries.
The fires are the latest in a series of extreme weather events in Europe, the world’s fastest-heating continent, that scientists say have been made more likely by the burning of fossil fuels.
Record-breaking heat has led to parched vegetation that, combined with strong winds, has increased the risk of fires spreading. More than 300,000 acres have burned in Spain and France, prompting the largest peacetime evacuations in those countries.
Nazaneen Ghaffar and Hari Raj contributed reporting.
