Wildfires ravage Spain, France and Italy, killing three firefighters

BARCELONA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 23rd Jul, 2026) Wildfires raged on Wednesday in Sicily, southwestern France and central Spain, claiming the lives of three firefighters and prompting thousands of evacuations.

Temperatures topped 40C and gusts of hot wind fanned the flames on the southern Italian island, where wildfires have been raging for several days.

Around 6,000 firefighters, forest guards and civil protection officials were deployed to battle the flames with the help of water-bombing aircraft, regional head Renato Schifani said, adding that 50 fires were still burning.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said a firefighter died after falling ill while battling the flames.

In France, two firefighters died on Tuesday while tackling a blaze that broke out near Bordeaux airport.

Two raging fires displaced thousands of people in the country's southwest, with one ravaging more than 1,400 hectares (nearly 3,500 acres) in the picturesque Arcachon Basin region near Bordeaux.

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A blaze that raced through wooded hills in another part of southern France, forcing hundreds from their homes and devouring an area twice the size of London's Heathrow Airport, was being contained earlier on Wednesday, officials said.

In Spain, authorities ordered the evacuation of several districts on Wednesday around the city of Toledo, south of Madrid, after a major wildfire threatened homes.

The new blaze spread as hundreds of firefighters battled a major wildfire that has devastated 32,000 hectares about 100 kilometres north of Madrid.

In 2025, more than 393,000 hectares were consumed by flames in Spain, according to the European Forest Fire Information System, the worst toll in the country's recent history.