Wildfires swept across France, Spain and the United Kingdom during a prolonged and extreme heat wave, ultimately forcing more than 300,000 people to evacuate as emergency services worked to bring the flames under control. The scale of the displacement highlighted growing concern about how vulnerable communities are to increasingly severe weather extremes linked to climate change.

Tens of thousands of hectares of land were consumed by the fires as they advanced rapidly across the affected regions. Even areas some distance from the active blazes, such as Bordeaux, experienced hazardous air quality and persistent smoke haze, while authorities worked simultaneously to contain the fires and manage the needs of displaced populations.