Wildfires Rage in France and Spain, Forcing Mass Evacuations and EU Aid Request

Wildfires continued to rage through parts of France and Spain on Friday, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate and authorities to ask European Union neighbors for help.

French authorities ordered the total evacuation of the tourist Cap Ferret peninsula off the Atlantic coast, with many boarding boats to flee.

In Spain, two fires converged near the capital, Madrid, with authorities declaring a national emergency, the first over a wildfire.

What do we know about France's Cap Ferret fire?

Over 60,000 people evacuated the area in and around Cap Ferret as the blaze consumed some 100 square kilometers (38 square miles) of land.

Authorities sent boats to help with the evacuation, with many others using small water taxis.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told local television that a fire that erupted in Saumos, north of Cap Ferret, was the largest so far this season in France. It was threatening to cut off the only road out of the peninsula.

"It's quite impressive and even frightening," the Associated Press quoted Laurent Moretti, a resident in the town of Ares, as saying. "An evacuation on this scale has never happened before. All we really hope is that the firefighters can quickly get it under control."

Some 1,500 of those who fled the peninsula arrived in the city of Arcachon by sea. They were met with coffee, fruit and water in a reception area prepared by town officials.

In the Gironde department, Nunez said 40,000 people have been evacuated, with 23,000 more in the Landes department.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the country will receive EU reinforcements to help put out the blaze, after calling for the neighbors' help.

At least 2 fires merge in Madrid

As Spanish authorities declared a national emergency over the wildfires, two fires converged despite the deployment of over 2,000 personnel and 10 aircraft in an effort to control the blaze, according to Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

Some 40,000 people evacuated or confined due to Madrid region wildfires, officials have said. Over 19,000 people were ordered to evacuate from towns in the mountains west of Madrid, where many of the capital's residents sport second homes. The area is densely populated.

The fire outside the Spanish capital is "at its peak" and out of control, said Carlos Novillo, the Madrid regional government's emergency management chief.

"The wildfire is at its peak and is currently beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain," he told reporters on Friday.

Only emergency vehicles were allowed on roads near the blaze, the AFP news agency reported. Police set up checkpoints to prevent unauthorized access.

Nicanor Sen, the government representative for the Castile and Leon region, told reporters a third fire in nearby Avila province was about to also merge with the other fires, or may have already done so.

"I've lived here for 36 years and I've never seen anything like it. ​Nor did I expect it. I thought they were going to get it under control last night, but it was already late, and it was all out of control," local resident Javier Martin told Reuters.

Spanish authorities declared a national emergency on Thursday in the Madrid region and the Avila province.

"We are experiencing a dramatic situation, not just in several Spanish regions but also in neighboring countries," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X.