Bordeaux Exhibition Centre has been providing refuge for thousands of residents in the Bordeaux and the Gironde in France escaping the wildfires that have wept the region.

Over 200,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the Gironde region over the weekend and the Bordeaux Exhibition Centre was the largest temporary shelter for the evacuees, taking in up to 7,000 people into its 10,000sqm facility. Most were accommodated in Hall 3.

Evacuees were put up on camp beds or on the floor and volunteers from local area have been helping prepare food and drinks.

On Sunday France’s interior minister Laurent Nuñez said the situation remained “very unfavourable” with fire crews tackling multiple blaze across mostly forest land. “The fire became extremely virulent again and unpredictable, generating its own winds and advancing erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area,” Nunez posted on X.

Railway operator SNCF cancelled all direct trains connecting Bordeaux, the Basque Country and Bearn.

Wildfires were also burning in Spain, with particular hotspots around Madrid and in the Valencia region.