Europe: Wildfires in Spain and France affect about 330,000 people

Herz — World Desk · 29 July 2026 at 16:13 · 30s summary · 3 min read

What we know

Active wildfires in Spain and France have forced about 330,000 people to evacuate or remain indoors since the week before July 29, 2026, according to the Guardian.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent. Its rate of warming is more than twice the global average.

Sam Jones, who arrived in Spain ten years before July 29, 2026, to work as the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent, reviews the changes he witnessed over that decade.

A decade of change in Spain

During that period, the campaign for Catalan independence gained momentum, lost steam and then subsided.

Podemos, a Spanish left-wing to far-left party founded in 2014, rose and later declined.

Ciudadanos, a Spanish liberal and unionist party, followed a similar trajectory after once appearing capable of permanently reshaping the country’s political landscape.

Portugal’s 2024 wildfires

In late September 2024, Jones and photographer Gonçalo Fonseca travelled to Albergaria-a-Velha in northern Portugal.

They found charred trees, burned-out cars and homes that had been destroyed or left without roofs.

According to the death toll reported by the only available source, the previous week’s fires killed nine people and injured dozens more.

The fires also burned 100,000 hectares across northern and central Portugal.

Strong winds, drought and unusually high temperatures above 30°C fuelled the fires.

João Oliveira, head of the local civil protection agency, described the fires’ energy, damage, intensity and violence as unprecedented in the area.

Flooding in the Valencia region

Four weeks after visiting Portugal, Jones travelled to Utiel and Chiva, 48 hours after floods struck Spain’s Valencia region.

In autumn 2024, the floodwaters damaged homes, destroyed cars and left a thick layer of mud across the streets.

According to the toll from the only available source, the floods killed more than 230 people in the Valencia region.

Timeline

1. 2017
   Wildfires in Portugal kill 66 people, according to a toll reported by a single source.
2. 2021
   Eleni Myrivili, then Athens’ chief heat officer, says heat will be the defining issue of the following decade.