You are on holiday or you live near Bordeaux, Lacanau, Cap-Ferret, Biscarrosse or
Parentis-en-Born, the news is in French, and you need to know what is happening and what to do.
This page is the short English version of alertesfeux.fr.
It is a citizen-run page, not an official one.
Last checked
(Paris time)
If you are in immediate danger, call 112 now. It is the European emergency number,
free from any phone, including a phone with no SIM card or no credit. Operators can usually take
your call in English. Say your location first, then what you can see.
What is happening
Not contained, still spreading
Saumos fire
Gironde (33), spreading east towards the Bordeaux urban area
Area burnt
about 42,000 hectares
People evacuated
about 253,000 (both fires)
Responders
about 900 firefighters, 1,500 soldiers
Towns evacuated: Saumos, Le Porge, Le Temple, Lège-Cap-Ferret, Lacanau, the Cap-Ferret
peninsula, and in the Bordeaux area Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, Martignas, Mérignac, Eysines,
Le Haillan, Saint-Aubin-de-Médoc, Saint-Jean-d'Illac, plus Marcheprime, Cestas, Biganos,
Le Barp and Mios. Smoke over Bordeaux.
Homes, campsites, a care home and a children's summer camp were evacuated. Some
residents were allowed back into stabilised areas from 8pm, in waves, and this is only a first
step. Sanguinet and all of Parentis-en-Born remain evacuated. The fire is neither
contained nor under control.
These figures are the last official count we could verify. They are very probably already out of
date. Only the prefecture decides and announces evacuations.
The loud alarm on your phone is real
FR-Alert is the French government's public warning system. It makes every phone in a
given area ring at full volume, even on silent, and shows a message on screen. It is not spam
and not a scam. The message is normally written in French: translate it or ask someone next to
you, but never dismiss it without reading it. You do not need to install anything and you cannot
opt out. If it tells you to leave, leave.
If you are told to evacuate
Go immediately, do not wait to pack. Minutes matter more than luggage.
Take your passport or ID, phone and charger, any medication, and water. If you have
a car key and the car is not blocked in, take the key.
Close windows, doors and shutters before you leave, and leave the gate open for
the emergency services.
Follow the route the emergency services give you, even if your GPS suggests a
shorter one. Roads get closed without warning.
Go to the reception centre you are directed to and register there. That is how
your family and your embassy can find you, and how you get a bed and food.
Tell your campsite, hotel or rental host where you are going, and message someone
outside the area so one person knows you are safe.
If you have not been told to evacuate
Stay inside a solid building and close every window, door and vent. A house protects you better than a car or the open air.
Keep your phone charged and with you, sound on, so you receive FR-Alert.
Follow the prefecture and your town hall, not social media. Rumours travel faster than fire.
Do not drive off on your own initiative. Cars on the road get in the way of fire engines and you can be caught by smoke.
Do not go to look at the fire and do not fly a drone. Both stop aircraft from dropping water.
Do not call 18 or 112 for information. Those lines are for emergencies only. Use the public information line below.
From a foreign mobile in France, dial 112 with no country code. Your own embassy or consulate in
France can help with a lost passport or repatriation, but it cannot evacuate you: that is the fire
service's job.
Where people are being sheltered
Gironde (33), Saumos fire
Bordeaux, Parc des Expositions, the main reception centre, up to around 10,000 places.
Arcachon, Palais des Congrès, reception and redirection.
Local reception points opened by Lège-Cap-Ferret, Lacanau, Le Porge, Biganos, Marcheprime, Mios, Hourtin, Carcans, Audenge, Andernos-les-Bains and Lanton.
Landes (40), Biscarrosse fire
Reception centres opened by the town halls of Biscarrosse and Parentis-en-Born, run with the French Red Cross, Protection Civile and Ordre de Malte.
Several halls have been closed or moved because of smoke. Confirm which one is open before you set off.
Reception points change fast. Always confirm with the town hall (mairie) or the public
information line 09 70 80 90 40 before travelling.
Smoke, even far from the fire
Smoke is drifting well beyond the fire fronts, including over the Bordeaux area. Smoke irritates
the eyes and throat and is a real risk for children, older people, pregnant women, asthmatics and
anyone with a heart or lung condition.
Stay indoors with windows closed while the smoke is thick, and keep air conditioning on recirculation.
Avoid sport and hard physical effort outside.
A cloth or surgical mask does not filter smoke. Only a well fitted FFP2 helps, and only a little.
If you have breathing difficulty, chest pain or confusion, call 15 or 112.
Citizen-run information page, with no official affiliation. It aggregates the
briefings of the Gironde and Landes prefectures, Météo-France, NASA satellite data and the media
quoted on the French pages. It never predicts where a fire will go. Figures are timestamped and
are probably already out of date: always check the source. In an emergency, call 112.
Something wrong on this page? Tell us.