In the region surrounding the Spanish capital of Madrid, thousands of people returned home on Wednesday after being evacuated for several days due to the wildfires, the regional prefect announced.
Authorities are still working to contain the fire – the worst in the history of this area.
"Specifically, this means that 24,000 evacuees have been able to return home and that the lockdown in the Madrid region has been lifted for another 20,000 people," Francisco Martín Aguirre reported on X late Tuesday night into Wednesday.
Regional authorities had announced that restrictions would be lifted at 15:00 on Tuesday for 13 towns in this arid but relatively densely populated area, located about 50 kilometres from Madrid.
The fire department is continuing its efforts to consolidate the progress made on Tuesday. The return of the evacuees has so far proceeded without incident, according to the fire department.
According to emergency services, no new hotspots emerged overnight.
However, the period of favourable weather conditions for bringing the fire under control has ended, following two generally favourable days.
Meanwhile, temperatures are rising again—with highs expected to reach around 37 °C—and gusts of wind could complicate the fire department’s work on the ground.
The fire in the Madrid region and the massive fire in Ávila, in the neighbouring region of Castile and León, have destroyed 77,000 hectares.
Bordeaux suburbs also return
Residents of three municipalities near Bordeaux, who were evacuated last weekend due to wildfires, will be allowed to return home "if they wish". Sophie Brocas, the prefect of the French department of Gironde, announced this on Tuesday evening.
The measure applies to Le Haillan, Mérignac, and Eysines, three municipalities that were evacuated during the night from Friday to Saturday. Residents will be allowed to return home, but only under "two conditions that must be strictly adhered to," the prefect said.
Plane tackles the wildfires in the Bordeaux region, southwestern France. Credit: Belga / AFP
Residents must be prepared to leave again immediately if the situation deteriorates. They must also keep their cell phones turned on at all times so they can receive warning messages.
Brocas says the situation in the Bordeaux area has now stabilised. The fire is not spreading any further, but there were fourteen flare-ups on Tuesday. "That’s a lot, in areas that had already been ravaged by the fire."
For that reason, as a precaution, some 4,000 people were evacuated earlier in the day from tourist accommodations in the French town of Lacanau.
The Gironde fire has burned 42,000 hectares to date, the largest area since a deadly forest fire in the Landes de Gascogne in 1949 that ravaged approximately 50,000 hectares.
