Azernews.Az

Ulviyya Poladova

Read more

French authorities have detained 328 people as part of investigations into the country's ongoing wildfires, AzerNEWS reports.

According to BFMTV, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced the figure during a press briefing.

"A total of 328 individuals have been detained as suspects in connection with the wildfires," Nuñez noted.

Earlier, the minister confirmed that a major wildfire in the Gironde department in southwestern France had been brought under control. According to the regional prefecture, 198,000 of the 220,000 residents who were evacuated have now been cleared to return to their homes.

This year, Europe has experienced a record wildfire season, with France and Spain among the hardest-hit countries.

The European Commission previously announced that, under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, 13 firefighting aircraft, four helicopters, and hundreds of firefighters from across the European Union had been deployed to help combat the blazes.

The UN noted that more than 250,000 hectares of forest have burned across Europe, with 1,254 fires recorded since the beginning of 2026. Record-breaking wildfires have affected France, Spain and other parts of Europe amid heatwaves, triggering mass evacuations and putting pressure on regional and national economies.

It is worth adding that more than 330,000 people have been evacuated across Europe, while thousands of hectares of forest have been destroyed as a new wave of extreme heat threatens to undermine firefighters’ efforts to contain the blazes.

Europe could be heading toward its worst wildfire season on record. By the end of July, fires had already destroyed more than 250,000 hectares of land - an area roughly equivalent to the size of Luxembourg.

Image: Emma Da Silva/AP