Wildfires create fire clouds in Europe

Fires burn across France and Spain - 3rd August 2026

Wildfires have destroyed areas of France and Spain. They're a result of heatwaves across western Europe, which are caused by the climate crisis. Governments have ordered 375,000 people to evacuate.

42,000 hectares of land have burned in France. Spain's lost 170,000 hectares, which is a 600 percent increase on last year.

90 percent of wildfires are caused by humans. But weather conditions are helping them to burn.

It rained heavily in Europe last winter, so plants grew bigger. In spring, there wasn't enough rain. This dried the plants out. Now, heatwaves have made them fuel for wildfires.

Europe has the fastest rising temperatures of any continent. Average temperatures are 0.87 degrees Celsius higher than the average from 1991 to 2020. Extreme wildfires and floods are becoming more common.

The wildfires are so large that they could take months to put out completely. They've produced the first pyrocumulonimbus clouds that France has ever seen.

NASA describes them as the "fire-breathing dragon of clouds". They produce lightning and strong winds, which help fires spread.

Wildfires are now within 9 kilometres of Bordeaux. Firefighting planes are dropping special fire retardant to block them.

Near Madrid, wildfires are "out of control". Firefighters are hopeful that they can put them out.