A new heat wave of up to +43°C will turn southern Europe into a powder keg: rescuers are sounding the alarm over forest fires (3 photos + 5 videos)
Category: Fires and Catastrophes, PEGI 0+
Yesterday, 19:44
A veritable hell is currently unfolding in southern Europe. Due to the abnormally hot June (in some places, the thermometer exceeded 45°C), fires broke out in France and Spain a month earlier than expected. The situation is critical, with hectares of forests ablaze, and the fires have reached cities and resorts. 
The worst fighting is currently unfolding in southern France. More than 250 hectares of land are ablaze north of Marseille. There's so much smoke that pilots of commercial aircraft are having to calm passengers before landing – there's a complete haze outside.
The fire has already reached the outskirts of Marseille. Social media is full of videos of distant port docks, warehouses, and boats in marinas burning. Firefighters are struggling to protect the industrial zone, which is teeming with flammable chemicals.
Trains between Marseille, Bordeaux, and Avignon have come to a complete standstill.
Rescuers urgently evacuated around 3,000 people. The firestorm literally destroyed dozens of popular campsites and bungalows in the Cannes area. People fled, abandoning their belongings.
The heat wave has already claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people across the country, and hospitals are overwhelmed.
A fire from France has spread across the border and attacked the Spanish province of Girona (Catalonia). There, the fire has already been officially declared a "sixth generation crisis" – a fire so powerful that it generates wind and controls the weather.
Authorities activated the emergency alert system and ordered 45,000 residents to lock themselves in their homes and seal their doors. Another 10,000 people had to be urgently evacuated from danger zones (including 150 children from a summer camp).
Police have already caught the man responsible for the fire. He turned out to be a local worker who decided to saw metal with a grinder on the side of the road in 40-degree heat. Sparks flew onto the dry grass, and hello – 2,300 hectares of the unique Gavarres Natural Park were destroyed.
Regular firefighters are overwhelmed; the Tramontana gale is fanning the flames at breakneck speed. Battalions of troops with special equipment have been urgently deployed to Girona. The fire is heading toward the popular beaches of the Costa Brava.
In the first half of July 2026, forecasters predict the return of an extreme "heat dome" to Europe, peaking between July 9 and 14. In southern Spain and France, temperatures will again soar to 41°C to 43°C, and abnormal heat will even reach Germany and the UK (in London, up to 31°C). Meteorological services warn that the scorching air, combined with gale-force winds, will critically exacerbate forest fires on soil parched by the June drought, and sudden, destructive thunderstorms with hail are possible along the edges of the weather front.
