Light rain fell near Bordeaux, France, on Thursday, raising hopes that the Gironde wildfires, which have burned an area larger than the US city of Detroit and destroyed 240 homes, may soon end.
Local fire officials said they were “pretty optimistic” given that the fire had not grown in size since the weekend.
According to French reports, about 84,000 of the 220,000 displaced people were able to return home on Thursday.
More than 90,000 hectares of land are estimated to have burned across France this year, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information Service. This is higher than any other year on record.
In Spain, more than 200,000 hectares will have burned in 2026. This is about five times higher than the average for the year. The area of degraded land in Portugal was also higher than usual at this time in July.
The bushfire season in Europe typically runs until August and September, and with warmer weather expected in the coming days, these figures are likely to continue to rise.
Most wildfires are started by humans, either intentionally or accidentally, but climate change is intensifying the weather conditions that are conducive to the spread of fires.
Last winter was warm and wet, encouraging plant growth, while back-to-back heat waves dried plants out, creating charcoal fuel that can fuel wildfires.
Some researchers have also warned that the Mediterranean’s forests and scrublands are poorly managed, leaving much of the vegetation to fuel fires.
Forecasters expect fire-prone conditions to spread across central Europe, with Greece and Turkey likely to be the hardest hit.
In Turkey, hundreds of homes were evacuated, but most of the fires, mainly in the south, were extinguished, authorities said.
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