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Two firefighters killed battling a blaze near Bordeaux Airport; investigation under way as authorities assess cause and emergency response.
Two firefighters died while fighting a large fire near Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport, officials in the Gironde department said, after a brush fire spread to a building close to an airport parking area.
Images shared on social media showed passengers disembarking a plane as a thick plume of smoke rose nearby. Around 100 firefighters and specialist aircraft were deployed to battle the blaze, authorities said.
France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced the deaths during a parliamentary question-and-answer session and said he would travel to Gironde as soon as possible to oversee operations. Several arrivals to Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport were delayed as a result.
Efforts to contain the fire continued amid a wider wave of wildfires across France, with officials reporting nearly 11,000 fires since the start of the year. Satellite data from the European Forest Fire Information System (Effis) showed more than 42,000 hectares burned in France between January and mid-July, exceeding the previous record set in 2022.
The announcement of two firefighter fatalities underscores the severity of the Bordeaux blaze and the broader wildfire season affecting multiple French departments. Official figures cited by authorities and Effis data highlight the scale of the fires and the pressure on firefighting resources.