Dozens of firefighters battled flames in a forest in Lege-Cap-Ferret on Friday (July 24), as a wildfire tore through a peninsula in southwest France and thousands have been evacuated.

French authorities ordered the total evacuation of the Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourism hotspot on the Atlantic Coast.

The fire, which began in nearby Saumos, north of Cap Ferret, is threatening to cut off the only road out of the peninsula and is the largest so far this season in France, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told local television.

It has torn through more than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres) of forest and burned 80 homes, completely destroying about 50 of them, he said.

Both France and Spain sought help from the European Union as the blazes strained firefighting and other emergency services.

In southwest France, authorities sent boats to help the evacuation and a total of about 63,000 people, many of them tourists, were told to get out as two major, separate fires threatened homes and campsites, officials said.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

Firefighters battle blaze as winds fan flames in southwest France

VIDEO SHOWS: FIREFIGHTERS HOSING VEGETATION DURING WILDFIRE/ FLAMES IN FOREST

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT

SHOWS: LEGE-CAP-FERRET, FRANCE (JULY 24, 2026) (REUTERS - Access All)

1. FIRES BURNING/ FIREFIGHTERS RUNNING AROUND FIRE ENGINE AND PULLING HOSE

2. FIREFIGHTERS HOSING VEGETATION/ FIRES BURNING

3. FIRES BURNING AMONGST TREES/ FIREFIGHTERS

4. FIREFIGHTER RUNNING WITH HOSE

5. FIRES BURNING BEHIND TREES

6. FIREFIGHTERS HOSING VEGETATION

7. FIRE BURNING NEAR HOUSE

8. SMOKE RISING AND SPREADING/ FIREFIGHTER HOSING VEGETATION

9. FIREFIGHTERS PULLING HOSE, FIRE BURNING ON GROUND

10. FIREFIGHTERS AND FIRE ENGINES

11. VARIOUS OF FIRES BURNING IN WOODED AREA, FIREFIGHTERS TAKING POSITION

12. FIRES BURNING AND SMOKE RISING

13. FIREFIGHTERS POSITIONED NEXT TO ENGINE, FIRES BURNING IN WOODED AREA

14. FIREFIGHTERS FIXING HOSES

15. FIREFIGHTERS CARRYING HOSES, OTHERS STANDING NEXT TO FIRE ENGINE

16. FIREFIGHTERS STANDING NEXT TO ENGINE, FIRE BURNING IN WOODED AREA