France declares Gironde wildfire extinguished after burning for 69 days

Authorities in southwestern France have declared extinguished a wildfire that burned 42,000 hectares and smouldered for 69 days, making it the country’s largest blaze since 1949. The fire began in July near Saumos in the Gironde region. It threatened the tourist peninsula of Cap-Ferret and the outskirts of Bordeaux, forcing the evacuation of about 224,000 people.

No deaths were reported. State services said the fire had burned 42,000 hectares, of which 37,296 hectares were destroyed. Although firefighters brought the blaze under control on August 1, it continued smouldering underground for weeks before authorities declared it out on Monday.

More than 3,300 firefighters took part in the operation. Officials described it as the largest firefighting effort in the history of France’s modern civil security system. The fire was the largest recorded in France since a 1949 blaze in the same region burned about 50,000 hectares.

The comparison places the Gironde fire among the country’s most extensive recorded wildfires. Provisional figures cited in the report show that about 98,000 hectares were destroyed by wildfires across France this year. That was the highest level since 1976, according to the figures.

The blaze also sent a thick plume of smoke over Bordeaux during the evacuation period. The supplied report does not provide details about damage to homes, businesses or infrastructure, or say when residents were allowed to return. Authorities’ declaration marks the end of the active fire, but the scale of the burned area and the prolonged underground smouldering made the operation unusually lengthy.

The report does not identify the cause of the fire or attribute responsibility for its outbreak. Officials said the Saumos forest fire was finally extinguished after the extended response. The supplied material contains no further information about recovery measures or the condition of the affected forest.