France’s largest wildfire remained contained after 224,000 people were forced to flee in what may have been the largest civilian evacuation outside wartime. Europe entered 2026 after its worst wildfire year on record, when more than 10,000 square kilometres (3,860 square miles) burned. Wildfire meteorologist Theodore Giannaros estimated on Saturday that the blaze had affected 40 to 50 square kilometres (15 to 19 square miles), though authorities had not issued an official figure. Hundreds of kilometres away, nearly 1,500 firefighters were battling a separate fire in the south-eastern Var department that tore through roughly 18 square kilometres (seven square miles) in little more than a day. More than 1,170 square kilometres (452 square miles) have burned across France since the beginning of the year.