WorldA wildfire burning out of control in southwestern France has forced the evacuation of 10,000 people from two dozen small towns and villages near the ‌Spanish border and officials said strong winds on Monday would further fan the blaze.Blaze has scorched some 4,600 hectares in the foothills of the PyreneesThomson Reuters · Posted: Jul 06, 2026 7:24 AM EDT | Last Updated: July 6Listen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.France wildfire: 'Everything was burning,' evacuee saysJuly 6|Duration 0:58Hundreds of firefighters on Monday battled a wildfire in southwest France that has spread across 4,600 hectares, disrupted the arrival of a Tour de France leg and forced the evacuation of around 10,000 people. 'There was smoke everywhere, so thick that I could barely keep going,' said an evacuee from Ille-sur-Têt.A wildfire burning out of control in southwestern France has forced the evacuation of 10,000 people from two dozen small towns and villages near the ‌Spanish border and officials said strong winds on Monday would further fan the blaze.The European Union said on Monday it was sending four waterbombing aircraft to France from Cyprus and Sweden to help firefighters around the city of Perpignan."Europe stands with France," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X.The blaze has injured 16 people, including four firefighters, and scorched some 4,600 hectares in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, local prefect Pierre Regnault de la Mothe said in a post on X.A firefighting plane drops water, following a wildfire in Ille-sur-Tet near Perpignan, France, on Monday. (Bruna Casas/Reuters)Early summer heat waves in ⁠France and across ⁠western Europe in May and ‌June have scorched vast areas of land, making them particularly vulnerable to wildfires this year.The Trevillach blaze was burning near the third stage of the Tour de France, leading to its closure to the public on Monday to allow firefighters easy access to the area, according to Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.WATCH | Deaths surge in France amid extreme heat:France reports 1,000 additional deaths from extreme heat waveJune 29|Duration 0:42France’s public health agency said the country experienced roughly 1,000 additional deaths at the height of its record-smashing heat wave, an estimate it says is likely to increase. The agency said that 85 per cent of the deaths involved people aged 65 and above.The motorcade of vehicles that follows the race was also kept to a minimum, he said. The stage, which is 196 kilometres long, began in the Spanish city of Granollers and ends in Les Angles, in the Pyrenees-Orientales region of France.Europe is warming at more than twice the global average, the World Meteorological Organization has said, making prolonged heat episodes increasingly likely.Temperatures are forecast to once again hit 40 C in southwest France this week, with Portugal and Spain also baking under another heat wave, but are unlikely to reach the record highs seen in June.France sees its hottest day on record amid early heat wave in EuropeOn the Spanish side of the border, the fire ravaged 2,200 hectares — 97 per cent of them in the protected natural area of Les Gavarres — although regional authorities said over the weekend that it was stable and would be completely extinguished during the week.Police have arrested an employee of a company contracted by Catalonia's regional government who is suspected of having sparked the wildfire by using an angle grinder at the side of a road.South of Catalonia, in the eastern Castellon province, 500 people were evacuated after a wildfire entered the Sierra de Espadan national park, home to a significant cork oak forest.Portugal has suffered hundreds of blazes in the last few days, with the biggest already burning through 10,000 hectares of land — the size of around 14,000 football pitches.