Extreme heat and wildfires are becoming more common. Europe is experiencing record-breaking temperatures and heatwaves. Deadly wildfires are burning out of control. The biggest and most serious of these is near the French city of Bordeaux. The huge fire is just 8 km from the city's outer limits. More than 2,500 firefighters are trying to fight the fire. On Monday, 17,000 residents were evacuated from the city. Tens of thousands more might have to leave. A news site said the city looked worryingly like "the darkest days of the Covid-19 pandemic" with people wearing masks.
A French firefighting boss said the kind of wildfire outside of Bordeaux has never been seen in France before. He said the intense heat has created "fire clouds". NASA called these the "fire-breathing dragon of clouds". They make their own winds, which make the fires suddenly spread. The firefighters' boss said the fire-cloud wildfire was almost impossible to put out. He said: "It is shifting non-stop. We cannot fight it directly." He said his firefighters were in a David-versus-Goliath situation. Bordeaux locals are now worrying about the future of their city.
Try the same news story at these levels:
Wildfires - Level 0, Wildfires - Level 1 or Wildfires - Level 3
Sources- https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260726-french-firefighters-face-pyrocumulonimbus-for-first-time
- https://www.france24.com/en/france/20260727-i-spent-the-night-coughing-wildfire-smoke-leaves-bordeaux-residents-struggling-to-breathe
- https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/07/26/pedro-sanchez-the-scale-of-the-disaster-we-are-living-through-is-very-hard-to-accept
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