Lire cet article en français : Incendies en Gironde et dans les Landes.
Since 22 July 2026, the Landes de Gascogne forest has been burning. What started as a small fire in Saumos turned into an unprecedented blaze: 42,000 hectares gone up in smoke across Gironde and Landes, 260,000 people evacuated, more than 240 buildings destroyed, more than 120 firefighters injured. We're writing this the very day the main fronts have finally been stabilised. At Bordeaux Confidentiel, we wanted to say something simple: thank you. Thank you to the firefighters, to the military, to the volunteers, to the winegrowers, to the entrepreneurs, to the neighbours. And above all, to explain how you too can help, concretely.
Numbers that make your head spin
A few reference points, to grasp the scale. The fire that started from a brush-clearing job in Saumos on 22 July devoured 4,800 hectares in 24 hours, then 32,000 hectares in three days on the Gironde side alone. It crossed the Porge communal forest, reached Lège-Cap-Ferret, forced the full evacuation of the peninsula. A second front broke out in the Landes around Biscarrosse, Parentis-en-Born and Sanguinet, adding 3,500 hectares. By 27 July, the total reached 42,000 hectares. More than 220,000 people had to leave their homes in Gironde, 40,000 in the Landes. The largest French population evacuation since World War Two.
The fire jumped the ring road in the north-west of Bordeaux, forcing Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, Le Haillan, Saint-Jean-d'Illac, Martignas-sur-Jalle, Saint-Aubin-du-Médoc and parts of Mérignac to prepare for the worst. As we write, 175 homes have burned down in Le Porge, 198 in the Landes, 140 across the rest of Gironde. Entire lives turned to ash in a matter of minutes.
On the ground, a historic mobilisation
Facing this wall of fire, France sent its heaviest gear. 2,500 firefighters, from Gironde of course but also from all across Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Île-de-France, Brittany, Hauts-de-France. 1,500 soldiers. Eighteen aircraft, including 7 of the 12 French Canadair water bombers, an A400M Atlas transformed into a retardant-dropper for the occasion, two Portuguese Air Tractors, two Croatian Canadairs, a Czech Black Hawk, a Slovak one, an NH90 helicopter and a Reaper drone to map the fire fronts in real time.
And then there's everything that doesn't make the headlines. The water tanks brought in by Pessac-Léognan and Médoc winegrowers, the clearing tractors lent by farmers from the Graves, the bulldozers offered free of charge by construction companies, the meals cooked in fire stations by restaurateurs, bakers, residents dropping off crates of fruit and packs of water. The hotels and campsites throwing open their rooms to evacuees. The private households taking in pets through the emergency cell run by the FUTUR association. This spontaneous, quiet, massive solidarity. It's as essential as the Canadairs.
These women and men slept three hours a night for five days, breathed in toxic smoke, watched houses burn down that they were trying to save. They deserve much more than a thumbs-up on Instagram.
How to help, concretely
There are several ways to give back, all of them useful.
The first is to support the Gironde firefighters directly through the ODP (Pupilles Orphelins et Fonds d'entraide des Sapeurs-Pompiers de France) - UDSP 33 chapter. This publicly recognised foundation funds support for firefighters injured on duty and their families, training for young cadets, and the corps' social welfare work. Donations go through the official Gironde firefighters platform: don.odp-pompiers.fr/udsp33. Every euro goes straight to firefighters and their families, and every euro is 66 % tax-deductible for French residents.
The second is to help the residents who lost everything. The Sud-Ouest Solidarité fund on HelloAsso passes 100 % of donations to the affected municipalities via their Community Social Action Centres (CCAS), to the SDIS 33 and 40 fire services, to UDSP 33 and to the COBAN local authority. The town halls of Le Porge, Saumos, Lège-Cap-Ferret, Lacanau, Biscarrosse and Sanguinet have also opened their own appeals, more focused on emergency rehousing.
The third is to give time or equipment. Town halls coordinate volunteer needs: sorting donations, welcoming evacuees, helping displaced residents rebuild their paperwork. If you have a vacant home, a holiday rental, a spare room, the Croix-Rouge Gironde and the Protection Civile centralise temporary housing offers.
The fourth is perhaps the quietest. When you spot a firefighter in uniform over the coming days, in a cafe, a bakery, a supermarket, just say thank you. Simply. They're exhausted, they've watched colleagues get injured and residents lose their homes. A kind word does more good than you'd think.
What we take away from this summer of 2026
This wildfire isn't a one-off. It's part of a sequence: the 2022 Gironde fires, the record-breaking 2023 drought, the scorching summer of 2025, and now 2026, the worst year ever recorded for French forests. The Landes de Gascogne massif, Europe's largest cultivated forest, burns because it's monospecific, very dense, very dry, and it's coping with a climate that has gone off the rails. The question is no longer whether it will happen again, but when and on what scale. The public debate will open in the coming weeks about firefighting resources, prevention, forestry strategy, and the place of firefighters in the Nation.
In the meantime, there are women and men going home with singed eyes, blackened hands, backs broken by five days of combat. There are families in Le Porge coming back to see what's left of their home. There's a wounded forest that will take 40 years to grow back. And there's us, living in Bordeaux or across Gironde, who saw the sky turn orange, smelled the burning air right into our living rooms, heard the sirens all night long. It's our turn to reach out.
Where to donate
Gironde firefighters (ODP - UDSP 33): don.odp-pompiers.fr/udsp33
Sud-Ouest Solidarité fund: via HelloAsso, passed to CCAS and SDIS
Croix-Rouge Gironde (housing, in-kind donations): donner.croix-rouge.fr
Protection Civile Gironde (volunteering): protection-civile.org
Tax deduction: 66 % of the amount for recognised charities, up to 20 % of taxable income (France)
Affected municipalities: Saumos, Le Porge, Lège-Cap-Ferret, Lacanau, Biscarrosse, Sanguinet, Parentis-en-Born
Read this article in French: Incendies en Gironde et dans les Landes.
Photo credit: AP Photo/Emma Da Silva
