George and Amal Clooney recently had to leave their 18th-century property in Southern France due to a wildfire that emerged in the nearby town of Brignoles. Fortunately, the situation has since been stabilized.
Reports from People magazine and the local broadcaster BFMTV indicated that George Clooney sent a heartfelt text to Brignoles Mayor Didier Bremond as they were evacuating. In his message, he expressed the couple’s support for the community. He wrote, “Dear Didier, we are unsure if our beloved home will stand the test of this grave challenge. We are evacuating but we remain committed to this community… As we leave Brignoles, our hopes are twofold: firstly, for the safety of you and all residents, and secondly, that Amal and I continue to be part of this community and aid in its recovery.”
This incident is part of a broader crisis as France grapples with multiple severe wildfires, exacerbated by a particularly wet spring followed by a series of intense heatwaves this summer, with temperatures soaring up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).
To combat the Brignoles wildfire, authorities deployed over 250 firefighters, supported by 85 fire vehicles, three Canadair planes, and seven water-bombing helicopters. Approximately 650 residents from the southern fringes of the town were evacuated but have since been allowed to return.
The Clooneys’ estate, Domaine du Canadel, situated on a hill across the valley from the fire, was not officially mandated to evacuate, but the couple chose to leave as a precaution.
This wildfire in Brignoles followed a larger blaze in nearby Portevès earlier in the week, which consumed 2,700 hectares and destroyed 25 homes. Over the past two weeks, wildfires across France have forced about 325,000 people to evacuate their homes.
The most severely affected area has been the Gironde region in Southwest France, where around 220,000 people were evacuated and 42,000 hectares have been scorched—a figure starkly contrasting the 23,000 hectares devastated by the L.A. 2025 fires.
Additionally, the Cap Ferret peninsula, known for being a hotspot for French celebrities, was fully evacuated. Guillaume Canet, an actor and director with a home on the peninsula, publicly commended firefighters and expressed solidarity through a poignant social media post over the weekend.
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