As it burned through fields near the village of Le Porge, the fire exposed a forgotten cache of Second World War-era shells. Flames burrowing into deep peat set off more than 20 buried second world war shells over six weeks of burning. Northern France and Belgium still produce a so-called annual “iron harvest” of first world war shells turned up by farmers every spring. South-western France, including the Gironde forests that burned in 2026, also saw heavy fighting and stored ordnance during the second world war. Rural abandonment in some parts of the continent has allowed vegetation to accumulate, creating the fuel loads that feed extreme wildfires.