A devastating fire affects the French Pyrenees

Hundreds of firefighters are fighting fires that have destroyed thousands of hectares of land in France, and the expansion of the fires comes at a time when temperatures are rising again, while the European continent is still dealing with the repercussions of heat waves recorded in May and June 2026, to which thousands of deaths are attributed.

About 10,500 people received orders to evacuate their homes near the city of Perpignan in southwestern France, while firefighters worked to combat a devastating fire in the Pyrenees mountains, which destroyed more than 4,600 hectares, according to the authorities. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that the continental bloc had allocated four planes to drop water, to help deal with the fires in southern France.

She explained on social media platforms that “planes will arrive from Cyprus and Sweden to support French firefighters in the vicinity of Perpignan.”

Local authorities in southern France announced that the third stage of the cycling tour, which passes through the Pyrenees mountains from Spain to France, will be held in the absence of spectators who usually line up on both sides of the track, and the riders will cross the border between the two countries during the 196-kilometre-long stage.

For their part, 300 French firefighters faced difficulty in controlling a fire in a mountainous area in the Drome region in the southeast of the country.