Firefighters in the Landes department of France stopped the spread of a 1,600-hectare forest fire near Luglon on Saturday, but the blaze remains uncontained. Gilles Clavreul, the prefect of the Landes department, stated that while the progression of the flames had been halted by late Saturday afternoon, the fire was not in the process of being fixed. The blaze has burned through pine forest in Luglon, located about 30 kilometers northwest of Mont-de-Marsan.
A total of 550 firefighters are deployed on the ground to combat the disaster. They are supported by an array of aerial resources, including two Dash aircraft, four Canadair water bombers, and a heavy Australian helicopter.
Temperatures in the department dropped slightly on Saturday to 32 degrees Celsius, down from 36 degrees Celsius on Friday and 40 degrees Celsius on Thursday. Clavreul noted that the lower temperatures created more favorable conditions during the afternoon, allowing air crews to flood the most dangerous vulnerable areas.
Landes Forest Fire Operations
Emergency crews are focusing their efforts on a second active outbreak created by a spot fire overnight. Clavreul explained that this section is the most virulent part of the fire, featuring unstable edges.
Firefighters must treat 30 kilometers of active fire edges out of a total perimeter of 48 kilometers. Persistent winds continue to complicate operations across the area.
Colonel Arnaud Fabre, director of the Landes departmental fire and rescue service, stated that the fire had been evolving favorably before reactivating around 4:30 a.m. on Saturday. Fabre explained that the sector is difficult to access, which required emergency services to commit a major portion of their forces to contain the flames.
Emergency responders handled 22 spot fires on Saturday, mostly during the morning hours. Overnight spot fires previously expanded the burned area to between 1,580 and 1,600 hectares, where the total footprint remained through Saturday evening.
Australian Heavy Helicopter Deployment
Firefighting operations relied heavily on a specialized Australian Chinook CH-47D water-bombing helicopter. Australia loaned the heavy aircraft to the French civil security agency, the Sécurité civile, to assist with forest fire response.
The aircraft was presented to the press on August 13, 2026, at Air Base 118 in Mont-de-Marsan. It carries more than 11,000 liters of water per drop, which is twice the capacity of a Canadair water bomber, and is capable of operating during night hours.
Clavreul requested the takeoff of the Australian helicopter again on Saturday morning following its initial water drops on Friday. Continuous flight rotations by the Chinook, Canadair, and Dash aircraft took place over the villages of Luglon and Garein.
Evacuations in Garein and Luglon
Authorities have evacuated at least 650 people from the surrounding area as a safety precaution since the fire began. On Thursday evening, officials preventatively evacuated 550 local residents from the sector.
An additional 100 people were evacuated from the commune of Garein, located adjacent to Luglon, during the night between Friday and Saturday. Emergency crews maintained high mobilization around Garein as aircraft continued dropping water in the area.
Heatwave Vigilance Across France
The wildfire in the Landes coincides with an extended period of intense heat affecting much of France. National weather service Météo France maintained 64 departments under orange heatwave vigilance on Saturday and Sunday, August 15 and 16.
Météo France lifted orange heatwave alerts in 19 departments on Saturday morning as cooler conditions began arriving along the English Channel, the Atlantic coast, the southwest, and the southern Alps. Forecasters indicated that temperatures will gradually drop across the western half of France on Saturday before extending further east on Sunday.
Early Saturday morning temperatures recorded at 6:00 a.m. remained high across several regions. Thermometers registered between 20 and 23 degrees Celsius from Vendée to Pyrénées-Atlantiques, across the southwest, the Rhône valley, and the Grand-Est region.
Temperatures ranged between 21 and 25 degrees Celsius from Centre-Val-de-Loire to the eastern part of Hauts-de-France, including Île-de-France. Along the Mediterranean coast, morning minimums reached between 22 and 26 degrees Celsius. Meteorologist Adrien Thomas from La Chaîne Météo explained that weather forecasting models have struggled to predict the precise end of the heatwave.
High Fens Wildfire in Belgium
Neighboring Belgium is fighting one of the worst wildfires in its history in the High Fens, a large forested nature reserve near the German border popular with hikers. The blaze broke out around midday on Friday and spread rapidly through the reserve.
Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for Walloon authorities, reported that the fire grew from 80 hectares on Friday evening to 850 hectares on Saturday morning, reaching 2,000 hectares by early Saturday evening. Belgian authorities evacuated local residents and called in the army to reinforce firefighting operations.
The fire threatened the eastern Belgian village of Sourbrodt with evacuation due to heavy smoke risks. Yernaux stated that while a risk remained that the flames could reach residential homes, emergency services were deploying all available resources to protect the village.
