France Declares Gironde Wildfire Extinguished After 69 Days, Its Largest Since 1949

French authorities announced on Monday that the massive wildfire which ravaged southwestern France this summer has finally been fully extinguished, bringing an official end to a disaster that burned for more than two months and destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of land.

According to a statement issued by state services, the fire that broke out near the village of Saumos in the Gironde region scorched 42,000 hectares in total, with 37,296 hectares confirmed as destroyed. The announcement came after weeks of monitoring, as the blaze continued to smoulder underground long after firefighters had brought the main flames under control.

The wildfire was placed under control on August 1, but it took nearly another two months before officials could confidently declare it out. Smouldering peat and root systems beneath the forest floor kept the fire alive underground, requiring persistent monitoring and intervention even as visible flames had been suppressed.

Officials confirmed that no deaths had been reported as a result of the fire, a notable outcome given the scale of the evacuation operation it triggered. Around 224,000 people were forced to leave their homes at the height of the crisis, making it one of the largest peacetime evacuations ever conducted in France.

The fire erupted in July and quickly threatened the popular tourist peninsula of Cap-Ferret as well as the outskirts of Bordeaux, a major city in the region. A thick plume of smoke covered Bordeaux during the peak of the blaze, forcing residents to remain indoors and disrupting daily life across much of the surrounding area.

More than 3,300 firefighters participated in the operation to contain and extinguish the fire, which officials described as the largest firefighting effort in modern French civil security history. The scale of the response reflected both the intensity of the blaze and the strategic importance of the area it threatened.

Several factors combined to make the fire particularly difficult to combat. The Gironde region contains large areas of pine forest, and the soil in parts of the Landes de Gascogne is rich in peat and organic matter that can burn underground for extended periods. This subterranean combustion makes it hard to confirm when a fire is truly out, as embers can reignite on the surface weeks after the initial blaze.

Local officials also pointed to the broader weather conditions this summer, which saw France record its hottest season on record. Prolonged drought and extreme temperatures dried out vegetation across much of the country, creating conditions in which fires could spread with unusual speed and intensity.

The scale of the destruction makes this the largest recorded wildfire in France since 1949, when a blaze in the same region burned approximately 50,000 hectares. That disaster, which occurred in the aftermath of the Second World War, remains the benchmark against which subsequent fires are measured, and the 2026 fire has now come close to matching it in both size and impact.

Nationally, provisional figures indicate that around 98,000 hectares have been destroyed by wildfires in France this year, the highest annual total since 1976. That figure places the 2026 fire season among the most severe on record, and it has prompted renewed debate about the country's preparedness for increasingly frequent extreme fire events.

The human and economic costs of the Saumos fire are still being assessed. The evacuation of more than 224,000 people disrupted tourism across the region at the height of the summer season, and businesses in and around Cap-Ferret and the Gironde coast suffered significant losses as visitors were forced to leave or stay away.

Politically, the disaster has placed pressure on the French government to strengthen its response to wildfires. In August, Prime Minister Lecornu announced what was described as substantial aid for fire-hit regions during a visit to the southwest, though his reception by angry local residents highlighted the frustration felt by those whose lives and livelihoods were affected.

As the fire now moves into the recovery phase, attention is turning to the longer-term consequences for the affected landscape. Ecologists warn that the destruction of forest cover on such a scale will have lasting effects on local biodiversity, soil stability, and water retention, while the release of carbon stored in burned vegetation will contribute to broader climate concerns.

The confirmation that the fire is extinguished brings a measure of closure to residents and authorities after more than two months of uncertainty. However, with fire seasons in France growing longer and more intense, the Saumos blaze is likely to be remembered less as an isolated event than as a warning of the challenges the country faces in the years ahead.

France 24, quoting Agence France-Presse, reported that the statement declaring the fire out was issued on Monday. The authorities have not indicated whether further investigations into the cause of the blaze are ongoing, though such inquiries are standard practice following major wildfires in the region.