Wildfires Burn 19,000 Hectares Across Southern Europe

Wildfires burned more than 19,000 hectares across Portugal, Spain, France and Greece on July 5-6 2026, Japan Times reported. The burned area equals 42,000 acres. French authorities ordered the evacuation of 10,500 people near Perpignan after a fire consumed 1,650 hectares.

The blaze came within 300 meters of houses in the village of Trevillach. Smoke was first seen around 10:30 pm on July 5, and a town-hall official knocked on doors in Trevillach around 1:00 am on July 6 ordering residents to leave. Regional prefect Pierre Regnault de la Mothe announced that Monday’s third stage of the Tour de France through the Pyrenees will be run without spectators along the route and finish area in France.

The public was asked not to approach the course. In Greece a forest fire near Thessaloniki spread to two factories, leading to an evacuation order and advice to keep windows closed. A fire near Spain’s Costa Brava coast burned more than 2,200 hectares in two days.

Three hundred French firefighters battled a separate blaze in the mountainous Drome department. Portuguese emergency services said they had controlled 80 percent of a wildfire that burned 13,000 hectares in northern Portugal. Additional fires destroyed hundreds of hectares on Croatia’s island of Hvar and at Tale in Albania.

Temperatures in parts of southern Europe are forecast to reach 40 °C in the coming days. France recorded more than 2,000 excess deaths in one week during the June 2026 heatwave, while Spain and Belgium each reported more than 1,000. The World Weather Attribution group stated the June heatwave would have been virtually impossible without climate change.

French fire service Colonel Eric Belgioino said on July 6 that climate change consequences are already occurring and the wildfire season started a month early.