Fast-moving wildfires devoured fields, forests and homes in France and Spain on Saturday, forcing nearly 300,000 people to evacuate or take shelter as hundreds of firefighters raced to stop the blazes’ approach on the major cities of Madrid and Bordeaux.
“It is an unprecedented situation, unlike anything we have seen before,” Madrid’s regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, said at a news conference.
In France, the authorities ordered the evacuation of around 197,000 people from the Gironde and Landes regions in the country’s southwest, where the fires have burned through an area about three times the size of Paris. President Emmanuel Macron said reinforcements from across the country had been deployed to help, including a military plane, water-bomber helicopters and civil aerial resources.
The Gironde fire was 20 miles west of the city of Bordeaux on Saturday and moving in its direction, the French authorities said. About 800,000 people live in the area, which is known for the vineyards and wineries to the city’s north and east. Thomas Cazenave, Bordeaux’s mayor, told reporters that while there were no plans to evacuate the city, it was “prepared to deal with any possibility.”
In Spain, more than 80,000 people near Madrid have been evacuated or ordered to remain indoors as ash and dense smoke from the wildfires, blazing through the mountains west of the capital, fell over the region. “The situation is still complex; our goal is to defend people’s lives,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said at a command center in Cenicientos, a town west of Madrid that was evacuated hours after he spoke.
Mr. Sánchez said there was a “window of opportunity” this weekend to fight the fire as temperatures eased. But he urged caution, as strong winds and dry thunderstorms could further complicate firefighters’ work.
The blazes are part of a wave of wildfires this summer across Europe. Since late May, heat waves have parched forests and vegetation. Last month was the hottest June on record in Western Europe, according to Copernicus, a European Union monitoring agency.
Although it is difficult to connect a specific heat wave or fire to global warming, experts agree that human-caused climate change is behind higher temperatures that have made wildfires more destructive.
The French government sent 1,000 troops to assist firefighters and was deploying for the first time a massive military cargo aircraft that was adapted to disperse flame retardant. Homes have already been destroyed, Mr. Macron wrote on social media. He also thanked Romania, Croatia, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia for sending resources. “We will rebuild, we will repair, and we will be there as long as it takes,” he said.
On Friday, as smoke and ash lingered in the air, the French authorities ordered the evacuation of the entire Cap Ferret peninsula, a popular Atlantic holiday destination, forcing tens of thousands of people on summer vacation to rush away by boat or car.
The final stage on Sunday of the Tour de France, one of the country’s signature sporting events, was also affected, even though it will end in Paris, far from the worst fires. The leg was shortened by about 25 miles so that some of the tour’s security forces could be sent to fire-stricken areas “in the spirit of national solidarity with the affected regions and populations,” tour organizers and police officials said in a statement.
In France, wildfires have burned more than 240,000 acres this year, a “historic record,” Laurent Nuñez, the French interior minister, said. More than 321,000 acres have been scorched in Spain, compared with an average of 247,000 acres per year over the past decade, according to the Spanish prime minister.
Earlier this month, a wildfire in the southeastern province of Almería killed 13 people, making it one of Spain’s deadliest fires on record.
Despite recommendations from the Madrid authorities to stay indoors and wear masks outside, the capital’s streets were busy late Saturday afternoon. Children swung on playground swings, tourists filled the outdoor bars and hundreds of people lined up at the Prado Museum for its free admission starting at 6 p.m.
But closer to the fires, residents were not taking chances.
In the town of Robledo de Chavela, in the mountains west of Madrid, Juan Antonio García was having lunch with his family on Thursday when ash began drifting from the sky. He knew there were wildfires burning nearby, but he did not expect the flames to reach the town.
Twenty-four hours later, just before the authorities ordered an evacuation, he was fleeing his home with a bag of essentials.
“There have always been wildfires here, but never like this,” said Mr. García, 45, who was following updates from another house in Alcalá de Henares, on the other side of Madrid. “It’s the first time we’ve had to evacuate.”
Adil Mouhand Haddou and Sandra Rokosz were among those stopped by the police as they tried to return to their home in San Martín de Valdeiglesias, also west of Madrid. An officer told them to turn back — a burning car had started a fire that was spreading into the western mountains, and the road was too dangerous.
The couple pleaded to be let through so they could rescue their two cats and their dog, but with no success.
Ms. Rokosz, 28, said the officer told them: “It’s either their lives or yours.”
Aurelien Breeden, Ishani Desai and Jeanna Smialek contributed reporting.
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