Devastating out-of-control wildfires have swept across Europe as temperatures surge to 40C in a new scorching heatwave.Hundreds of firefighters battled forest infernos in France, Spain, Portugal and Greece today, where fires have devastated more than 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of land - an area more than one and a half times the size of Paris.Authorities have registered more than 4,000 excess deaths following one of Europe's worst heatwaves in June.Terrified tourists were running for their lives in a campsite in southern France on Friday as nearly 3,000 people had to be evacuated to escape sweeping flames.Dozens of mobile homes were reduced to ash in the town of Sainte-Marie-la-Mer near the Spanish border. The airport in nearby ​Perpignan was closed as two thousand firefighters battled several fires.Temperatures crept up to 40C today with more extreme weather on the way.France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez has already expressed concern that the annual summer wildfire season had started a month early.The Tour de France cycling race is also under threat as fires rage near one of the locations set to host one of the stages of the event. In Portugal, emergency services said they had controlled '80 per cent' of a wildfire which had left nine people injured by burns The flames ripped through some 13,000 hectares of Portuguese forest and scrubland in the north of the country and had spread nearly 22 miles A resident sprays water on a burnt house as a result of a wildfire in Calonge, Catalunya, Spain, on July 4A decision will be made 'by the end of the day' by organisers as fires rage just 43.5 miles from Les Angles, where riders are due to finish the third stage of the race on late Monday afternoon after starting in Granollers in Spain.In northeastern Spain, more than 2,200 hectares were burned near the Costa Brava coast, Catalunya, in just two days. A man has been arrested in connection with the blaze, which has badly hit the Gavarres protected natural area between Barcelona and the French border.Firefighters warned rising temperatures would 'complicate' their efforts to quell the wildfires as well as the many 'smoking hotspots' within the fire's perimeter.Firefighters 'worked tirelessly throughout the night to consolidate the perimeter of the La Bisbal d'Empordà forest fire, which is now stabilised,' said a Catalunya fire service statement.Roads in the southern French region around the Sainte-Marie-la-Mer campsite have been shut, and the local authorities have opened emergency shelters for people forced to flee their homes.There are now 600 firefighters mobilised there to contain a wildfire that has burned more than 1,000 hectares on a mountainside at Trevillach, about 20 miles east of Perpignan.Another 300 French firefighters battled another forest fire in a mountainous district of Drome in the southeast.In Portugal, emergency services said they had controlled '80 per cent' of a wildfire which had left nine people injured by burns.The flames ripped through some 13,000 hectares of forest and scrubland in the north of the country and had spread nearly 22 miles since it started on Thursday, senior civil protection officer Jose Costa said. Wildfires have decimated northern areas of Greece around Thessaloniki on July 4 Spain and Italy sent reinforcements and water-carrying planes after Portugal appealed for help to fight the inferno Infernos have swept across France too, like here in the southwest, where flames spread near houses in Pouzols-Minervois on July 2 Thousands of firefighters have been battling fires across France like here near La Fare, southern France, on July 2 Fireguard aircraft drops retardant over a wildfire in Pouzols-MinervoisHe added that 1,200 firefighters had been involved in the battle while Spain and Italy sent reinforcements and water-carrying planes after Portugal appealed for help to fight the inferno.Several regions across Portugal, Spain and southern France stepped up heat alerts on Sunday as temperatures rose again. On Monday, the latest heatwave was expected to move north. Forecasters say it could last until next weekend.Western Europe has already seen heatwaves this year in May and June that would have been 'virtually impossible' without climate change, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.Following a two-week surge in temperatures in June, France said there had been more than 2,000 extra deaths than usual in just one week, while Spain and Belgium each reported more than 1,000.Authorities in several countries fear more summer trouble ahead.'Climate change is here, we are living the consequences and it is only the start of July,' said French fire service Colonel Eric Belgioino as he made an appeal for people near the Pyrenees inferno to take precautions to avoid starting fires.'The season is going to be long for the soldiers fighting fires. You have to help us,' he said.