On Tuesday, July 14th, 2026, hundreds of firefighters battled two significant blazes in the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris, France. The fires have consumed nearly 2,000 hectares (about 4,900 acres) and forced the evacuation of approximately 1,000 people, according to local authorities.

The Fontainebleau fire is notable for its proximity to the densely populated region around Paris. In a first for the area, water-dumping planes repeatedly scooped water from the Seine River to help douse the flames, the regional fire chief reported.

Smoke continued to blanket the treetops as authorities worked to control the fires. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez announced on BFM television that two people have been arrested in connection with the Fontainebleau fires, with two additional arrests made for fires elsewhere in France.

Meanwhile, in southern Spain, four days after a devastating fire ravaged a remote expat community near Los Gallardos, judicial authorities identified 10 of the 13 fatalities using biological samples. The victims include five British citizens (one of whom died in hospital), three Belgian nationals, a French woman, and a Spanish national. The Los Gallardos fire affected about 70 square kilometers (27 square miles) of forest and farmland, an area larger than Manhattan.

These incidents occur amid broader concerns as Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures rising twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Sources