Wildland fires occur across Europe every summer, but those that erupted in Spain and France in July 2026 were among the largest and most disruptive the two countries have faced in decades. Some of the most consequential fires emerged in southwestern France’s Gironde Department and Spain’s Ávila and Madrid provinces in mid-July, where blazes forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate and destroyed hundreds of homes.
欧洲各地每年夏天都会发生荒地火灾，但 2026 年 7 月在西班牙和法国爆发的火灾是这两个国家几十年来面临的规模最大、最具破坏性的火灾之一。 7月中旬，法国西南部的吉伦特省以及西班牙的阿维拉省和马德里省发生了一些影响最严重的火灾，大火迫使数十万人撤离，并摧毁了数百所房屋。
Government officials in Spain say that a fire in Ávila, after charring around 50,000 hectares (124,000 acres), is the largest on record, surpassing a blaze that burned in Larouco, Quiroga, and Oencia in 2025. NASA satellites first observed signs of the Ávila fire burning near Burgohondo on July 22 and July 23 . By July 24, it had merged with fires in neighboring provinces, pushing the total area burned to 77,000 hectares, an area about the size of New York City.
西班牙政府官员表示，阿维拉发生的火灾烧焦了约 50,000 公顷（124,000 英亩）的土地，是有记录以来最大的火灾，超过了 2025 年在拉鲁科、基罗加和奥恩西亚发生的火灾。NASA 卫星于 7 月 22 日和 7 月 23 日首次观察到阿维拉火灾在布尔戈洪多附近燃烧的迹象。到7月24日，它已经与邻近省份的大火合并，使烧毁总面积达到77,000公顷，大约相当于纽约市的面积。
The image above, captured by Landsat 9 , shows charred landscapes around Burgohondo on July 29, 2026 . In the false-color image, unburned vegetation appears light green, and burned areas appear brown. The two reservoirs in the center of the image were heavily affected. Flames tore through homes, restaurants, campgrounds, marinas, and other infrastructure surrounding the reservoirs, according to news reports .
上图由 Landsat 9 拍摄，显示了 2026 年 7 月 29 日布尔戈洪多周围烧焦的景观。在假彩色图像中，未燃烧的植被呈浅绿色，燃烧区域呈棕色。图像中心的两个水库受到严重影响。据新闻报道，大火烧毁了水库周围的房屋、餐馆、露营地、码头和其他基础设施。
A similar crisis unfolded in southwestern France, west of Bordeaux . One of the largest fires to burn in France this decade charred more than 42,000 hectares , prompting large-scale evacuations and devastating the village of Le Porge . As of late July, fires had burned more than 90,000 hectares across France, more than any other season in decades, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System .
法国西南部波尔多以西也发生了类似的危机。法国近十年来最大的火灾之一烧毁了超过 42,000 公顷的土地，导致大规模疏散，并摧毁了 Le Porge 村。根据欧洲森林火灾信息系统的数据，截至 7 月下旬，法国各地的火灾面积已超过 90,000 公顷，超过数十年来的任何其他季节。
Environmental conditions months before the fires ignited made the landscape in both Spain and France particularly susceptible to burning, according to an analysis conducted by researchers with The State of Wildfires Project. Unusually wet winter weather enhanced vegetation growth in grasslands, shrublands, and forest understories, and then a series of sweltering heat waves and a period of drought parched the vegetation and primed it to burn. Several days of strong winds reaching 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour at times served as the final trigger, the researchers found, fanning flames and encouraging rapid spread.
根据野火状况项目研究人员进行的分析，火灾发生前几个月的环境条件使西班牙和法国的景观特别容易燃烧。异常潮湿的冬季天气促进了草原、灌木丛和森林林下植被的生长，然后一系列闷热的热浪和一段时期的干旱使植被变得干燥并引发燃烧。研究人员发现，连续几天时速达到 65 公里（40 英里）的强风有时会成为最后的触发因素，煽动火焰并促进迅速蔓延。
On July 25, conditions at fires in southwestern France grew so intense that French firefighters reported the formation of a pyrocumulonimbus —a towering type of “fire cloud” that draws convective energy from the heat of the fires. An international group of atmospheric scientists and fire experts who track the unusual clouds has documented the occasional formation of the clouds in Spain and Portugal in recent decades , but members of the group note that this is the first report of a fire in France producing one.
7 月 25 日，法国西南部的火灾情况变得如此严重，以至于法国消防队员报告形成了火积雨云——一种高耸的“火云”，它从火灾的热量中吸收对流能量。一个由大气科学家和火灾专家组成的追踪异常云层的国际小组记录了近几十年来西班牙和葡萄牙偶尔形成的云层，但该小组成员指出，这是法国首次报告发生火灾。
Thousands of firefighters and military personnel have battled fires in both countries. Crews have used aircraft to attack the fires with water and flame retardant, while teams on the ground have constructed firebreaks using tools ranging from bulldozers to hand tools. Firefighters gained the advantage by late July, allowing authorities to start lifting evacuation orders . However, forecasters are warning that the risk of fire in the coming days remains high due to the persistence of hot, dry conditions.
两国都有数千名消防员和军事人员与火灾作斗争。工作人员使用飞机用水和阻燃剂扑灭大火，而地面团队则使用推土机和手动工具等工具建造防火带。消防队员在七月下旬取得了优势，允许当局开始取消疏散命令。然而，预报员警告说，由于持续炎热干燥的天气，未来几天发生火灾的风险仍然很高。
Government satellite data are part of a global system of observations used to track fire behavior and analyze emerging trends. Among the real-time wildfire monitoring tools that NASA makes available are FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) and the Worldview browser.
政府卫星数据是用于跟踪火灾行为和分析新趋势的全球观测系统的一部分。 NASA 提供的实时野火监测工具包括 FIRMS（火灾信息资源管理系统）和 Worldview 浏览器。
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey . Story by Adam Voiland.
NASA 地球观测站图像，由 Lauren Dauphin 拍摄，使用美国地质调查局的陆地卫星数据。亚当·沃伊兰的故事。