Almost 300,000 forced from their homes across southern Europe as overnight winds accelerate spread of wildfires
At least one person has died as 'apocalyptic' fires spread further across Spain and France.
Wildfires sweeping across southern Europe have forced the evacuation of nearly 300,000 people as fires spread towards densely populated areas.
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Gusting winds fed the flames overnight, according to authorities, accelerating the spread of the fires that have been burning out of control since midweek.
A state of emergency has been declared in Spain, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez admitting that there are "complex times ahead," and in France, an official has said they are "far from having the fire under control" as firefighters are struggling to contain blazes approaching Bordeaux.
France sent a hulking military cargo plane to dump tons of flame retardants as it battled raging wildfires on Saturday and slashed the final stage of the Tour de France to redeploy security personnel to the blazes.
Saturday also saw the first death so far from the fires, after the Spanish interior minister confirmed a man died in Manises, near Valencia.
The man, believed to be in his 70s, was found dead in his car by firefighters as they extinguished a fire in the Salt de l'Aigua ravine in Manises, according to local media reports.
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Authorities in the Gironde region, where Bordeaux is located, issued overnight evacuation orders for five more localities, including some on the city’s approaches.
The Gironde prefect also ordered the partial closure of a major road heading southwest from Bordeaux that links it to the Atlantic coast to protect against what he called "firestorms".
The city’s mayor said the fire “is still at the gates of the metropolitan area,” having advanced to about nine miles from Bordeaux at its closest point.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu described the fires as unprecedented and said the Gironde blaze became so strong on Friday that it had begun generating its own winds.
The virulence of the French and Spanish wildfires, fueled by high temperatures and the long-term effects of climate change, caught fire crews and authorities off guard.
Firefighters in Spain said the blazes spread so fast and violently that they could not be tackled head-on. In France, some people even fled by boat when flames swept through touristic towns on the Atlantic coast.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Javier Organista, a resident of El Tiemblo, west of Madrid, where fire charred a famed chestnut grove.
“When we saw the flames coming into our town, surrounding us, leaving us with practically no way out, all the neighbours joined together to try to stop its advance.”
“It’s just really sad,” he said.