NAVAS REY: Spanish residents forced to flee some of the worst wildfires in living memory began returning to their homes on Tuesday, after the country lifted evacuation orders for more than a dozen areas.

But in France, thousands more people were ordered to flee, as fears grew that another searing heatwave would prevent containment of fires that have ripped through the southwest.

Swathes of tinder-dry forests, parched land and property have been destroyed west of the Spanish capital, Madrid, and in France’s Gironde and Landes regions, forcing tens of thousands to head to safety.

Spain’s interior ministry announced the end of evacuation orders for 13 municipalities on Tuesday afternoon, in rare good news in the battle to stop the inferno spreading.

In the evacuated village of Navas del Rey, eyewitnesses saw scenes of devastation, with blackened debris, ash and burnt-out cars stripped of their tyres, seats and paintwork.

Maria Paz Bolanos, 62, returned with her family to their home and garden in a housing development in the town -- and found it only slightly scorched.

“We’ve been here 50 years,” she said. “It must have been grandfather, my father in heaven. He somehow made it so the fire just came in through and stopped right there.

The mayor of nearby Pelayos de la Presa, Antonio Sin, described the scene for returning villagers as “a war zone”.

“It has been a horrendous fire, a brutal one -- It’s a monster that has run over us,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2026