Bordeaux/Madrid: Firefighters sought on Monday to take advantage of more favourable weather conditions to subdue massive wildfires threatening the French city and tourist region of Bordeaux and a number of sites in neighbouring Spain.
They were racing against the clock as another heatwave is expected to hit both countries later this week in what has been a blisteringly hot and dry summer across Western Europe.
Authorities have evacuated about 220,000 people, including holidaymakers and local residents, in France, while further south in Spain around 100,000 have been told to leave their homes or seek shelter.
In Bordeaux, French President Emmanuel Macron thanked firefighters for their hard work, warning the coming weeks would remain difficult. "We must hold on. We are going to win this battle together. The whole nation is behind you," he said.
The spread of the large fires converging in central Spain slowed overnight, authorities said, but the blaze in the Castellon province raged out of control as the weather agency warned of another potential heatwave this week.
"What we're experiencing isn't a succession of isolated events. It's the most painful expression of a climate emergency that is making sixth-generation wildfires more ferocious, heatwaves more frequent, and our territory more vulnerable," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday.
The so-called sixth-generation fires are the most extreme and uncontrollable category of forest blazes. Many scientists blame such fires and heatwaves on human-driven climate change.