Nearly 200,000 Evacuated as Wildfires Rage Across France and Spain.

Nearly 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, holiday resorts and other communities as massive wildfires continue to spread across France and Spain.

In Spain, firefighters were battling to contain major wildfires near Madrid on Saturday, as erratic winds threatened to spread the flames and thick grey smoke covered the sky west of the capital.

According to a report by Al Jazeera, Carlos Novillo, the Madrid regional government’s emergency management chief, said the wildfire had reached its peak and was currently beyond the capacity of firefighters to contain.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said the fires had destroyed nearly 10,000 hectares of land in the Madrid region and between 13,000 and 15,000 hectares in the neighbouring province of Avila. The combined area affected is more than twice the size of Paris.

Two separate fires merged on Friday to form a massive blaze, which came close to joining another fire in the neighbouring Castilla y León region.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was scheduled to attend an emergency planning meeting in Cenicientos, a village at the centre of the fire zone, before addressing the media.

Meanwhile, France has evacuated thousands of residents from areas near Bordeaux as wildfires continued to spread across the region.

Sophie Brocas, head of the local administration covering the Bordeaux region, said the areas of Le Haillan, Eysines and Mérignac were being evacuated.

About 44,000 people also fled the Cap Ferret peninsula south of Bordeaux after flames threatened the only major road linking the area to the mainland. Boats were used to evacuate hundreds of people, while others drove away from the peninsula, known for its luxury homes.

More than 50 houses have reportedly been destroyed in the area.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said more than 141,000 people had been evacuated from the Gironde and Landes regions.

“The fires which are hitting our country have reached a level that has never been seen before,” Lecornu said in a post on X.

The French army has been deployed to assist firefighting efforts, while President Emmanuel Macron has requested support from the European Union.

The government also ordered a military transport aircraft to support wildfire suppression operations, while about 100 Paris firefighters were deployed to assist emergency teams in the affected areas.

Officials warned that the extreme heat and prolonged drought experienced across parts of Europe had increased the risk of wildfires.

A study by the World Weather Attribution group linked the heightened wildfire threat to drought intensified by human caused climate change, as several European regions have already experienced at least two heatwaves since May.