This aerial view taken from a Civil Security helicopter shows an aircraft dropping a load of water over a wildfire near Saint-Jean-d'Illac, southwestern France, on July 28, 2026. (Photo by Baz Ratner / POOL / AFP)
Navas del Rey: Spanish residents forced to flee some of the worst wildfires in living memory began returning to their homes on Tuesday, after the country lifted evacuation orders for more than a dozen areas.
But in France, thousands more people were ordered to flee, as fears grew that another searing heatwave would prevent containment of fires that have ripped through the southwest.
Swathes of tinder-dry forests, parched land and property have been destroyed west of the Spanish capital, Madrid, and in France's Gironde and Landes region, forcing tens of thousands to head to safety.
Spain's interior ministry announced the end of evacuation orders for 13 municipalities on Tuesday afternoon, in rare good news in the battle to stop the inferno spreading.
But in the evacuated village of Navas del Rey, AFP reporters saw scenes of devastation, with blackened debris, ash and burnt-out cars stripped of their tyres, seats and paintwork.
Maria Paz Bolanos, 62, returned with her family to their home and garden in a housing development in the town -- and found it only slightly scorched.
"We've been here 50 years," she said. "It must have been grandfather, my father in heaven. He somehow made it so the fire just came in through and stopped right there.
"It's a miracle."
The mayor of nearby Pelayos de la Presa, Antonio Sin, described the scene for returning villagers as "a war zone".
"It has been a horrendous fire, a brutal one -- It's a monster that has run over us," he told AFP.
In contrast, Marielle Mourgeon was among 4,000 people forced to cut short holidays in the French seaside village of Lacanau, in the Gironde area near Bordeaux, after camping sites were told to evacuate as a precaution.
"At first I thought my husband was joking, with the blue sky and the fires dying down," she said.
French firefighters were "on the offensive", insisted commander Eric Pitault, standing in the middle of a firebreak 50 metres (165 feet) wide and 25 kilometres (16 miles) long that had been cut with the help of civilian volunteers on the Cap Ferret peninsula.
Over the past six days, the largest French wildfire since 1949 has raged west of Bordeaux, forcing more than 220,000 people to flee and destroying 240 houses.
Sophie Brocas, the government's top official in Gironde, told reporters the fire had "stabilised... meaning it is not advancing", authorising nearly 60,000 people evacuated from around the city to return.
But she said 14 blazes around it had reignited.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez struck an optimistic note, declaring that Spain was "turning the tide and we can begin to see light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against these fires".
Fernando Casado, mayor of Robledo de Chavela, a village at the northern edge of the flames, was more cautious, calling the fire "a sleeping kitten" at night but "a mighty lion" during the day.
"The next few hours are crucial," he warned.
Some 60,000 people were forced to flee the Spanish fires, which have consumed 77,000 hectares (190,000 acres) -- an area almost the size of New York City.
Galia Borisova, a 55-year-old domestic helper, wanted to reach her animals in Picadas but had to wait.
"They say there's so much smoke that you can't breathe, even with a mask. And I believe it because you could see it from here," she said.
Europe has been gripped by successive heatwaves and a major drought this year, which scientists have attributed to human-caused climate change.
Extreme heat has parched vegetation that had grown vigorously during wet weather earlier in the year, creating tinderbox conditions.
United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell said "the climate alarm is blaring from every direction" and called for a quick end to the use of fossil fuels.
The focus is currently on western Europe but the European Union's head of crisis management warned extreme heat could also trigger new fires in central Europe.
Spain's meteorological agency AEMET announced a new heatwave starting on Wednesday and lasting until at least the end of the week, with temperatures forecast to hit 42C in the northeast and 39C in the centre.
French weather agency MeteoFrance also forecast more hot weather of up to 40C from Tuesday with dry wind.
Near the southwestern French surfing hotspot of Le Grand Crohot, an AFP reporter saw violent gusts of wind whipping up flames as firefighting aircraft attempted to extinguish a rekindled fire.
Firefighting commander Matthieu Jomain warned that the conditions were similar to those when the fire started.
"We're not out of danger," added Michael Elicegui, who returned to his home in Biscarrosse in the Landes.
