More than 10,000 people were evacuated overnight in southwestern France as a rapidly spreading wildfire scorched through 2,000 hectares of land west of the city of Bordeaux.A freak 'fire tornado' tore through the commune of Saumos in the Gironde department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, with footage of a spinning column of flames ripping through foliage.The wildfire is located near the Arcachon Bay area, a tourist hotspot, and many of those evacuated are tourists staying in camping sites. Wildfires have burnt more land in Europe already this year than the annual average in the past two decades, data shows, as the world's fastest-warming continent has endured three stifling, virtually back-to-back heatwaves so far this year.Firefighters in central Spain battled a wildfire on Wednesday that has burned over 32,000 hectares in one of the country’s largest blazes on record.The country is bracing for its third heatwave of the summer, with temperatures forecast to reach a blistering 47C as a 'heat dome' brings hot, dry air from parts of Africa.The fire in rural Guadalajara comes less than two weeks after a deadly blaze devastated the Almería province, a small expat community in southern Spain. That small but extremely virulent fire killed 13 people, including seven Britons, in one of the southern European country’s deadliest wildfires. A freak 'fire tornado' tire through the commune of Saumos in the Gironde department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, with footage of a spinning column of flames ripping through foliage Wildfires have burnt more land in Europe already this year than the annual average in the past two decades, data shows, as the world's fastest-warming continent has endured three stifling, virtually back-to-back heatwaves so far this year More than 10,000 people were evacuated overnight in southwestern France as a rapidly spreading wildfire scorched through 2,000 hectares of land west of the city of BordeauxIn France, five hundred firefighters are battling to control the blaze, the prefecture said, adding that the wildfire was very rough, but that no one has been injured so far.Blazes ripped through 2,500 hectares in the department of Var in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, where around 400 people have been evacuated. The inferno has stopped spreading but has not been contained yet.Six departments – Herault, Var, Haute-Corse, Corse-du-Sud, Gard and Bouches-du-Rhone – are under orange heatwave warnings, while the national weather service Meteo-France placed Aude, Gard, Bouches-du-Rhone, and Vaucluse at the 'very high' fire risk level.After two firefighters died on Tuesday when their truck was engulfed in flames in Gironde, authorities urged people to avoid using barbecues in areas hit by heatwaves, stressing that nine out of 10 wildfires start, accidentally or not, as a result of human activity. France’s public health agency on Wednesday said the country recorded at least 5,700 more deaths than usual during a historic heatwave last month, sharply increasing its estimates of the feared toll from record-shattering temperatures.Public Health France said regions hit by the heat between June 17 and July 2 recorded 21,674 deaths from all causes. But without a heatwave, those same regions would have been expected to have seen far fewer deaths, or 15,910, based on statistical modeling using data from previous years, it said. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday visited a fire-ravaged area in Guadalajara, and called for a pact between political parties to fight climate change.'Year after year we clearly see how climate change kills and destroys wealth in our communities,' Sánchez said in the village of Tamajón, located less than two hours by car northeast of Madrid. 'This isn’t politics. It is science, it’s about facts.' A firefighter tries to extinguishing fires burning trees near Le Porge, southwestern France on July 23 A highly virulent wildfire has swept through more than 2,000 hectares since July 22 near the Arcachon Basin (Gironde), where nearly 12,000 residents and tourists have been evacuated in total from this area of the Landes de Gascogne forest, already devastated by flames in 2022 Vehicles drive by in Le Porge as a wildfire burns in a forest area in the Gironde department, as drought conditions worsen following a heatwave and water shortages across much of France, July 22 Emergency service vehicles on a road in Le Porge as a wildfire burns in a forest area in the Gironde department amid worsening drought conditions following a heatwave and water shortages across much of France, July 22 Smoke rises above the horizon as wildfire advances near Condemios de Arriba, Guadalajara province, Spain, Wednesday, July 22 Forest rangers take a break before returning to work on the fire near Condemios de Arriba, Guadalajara province, Spain, Wednesday, July 22Some 34 villages have been evacuated in the area but there are no reported serious injuries or deaths. Over 200 firefighters were supported by land vehicles and aircraft on Wednesday.Spain this year has already suffered 22 major forest fires, defined as a fire that burns over 500 hectares.The Socialist leader said over 100,000 hectares had already been scorched through the first half of the year, matching the total yearly average for Spain over the last decade.Spain’s Minister for Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, described the Guadalajara fire as 'one of the largest in the recent history of our country' and the largest ever for the region of Castilla La Mancha. The Guadalajara blaze is the second-largest on record in Spain’s history after some 37,000 hectares were burned last year in the northwest of the country, according to data from the ecological transition ministry, as cited by EFE news agency.Regional authorities said firefighters supported by water-dumping aircraft had so far protected homes in all 40 villages in the burned area, 90 per cent of which belongs to a national park. Firefighters hope to have the nearly week-old fire under control by Friday, said Emiliano García-Page, regional president of Castilla La Mancha.Miguel Ángel Moreno, mayor of the village of Zarzuela de Jadraque, said its 100 residents were evacuated Friday, with 14 taking refuge at a Red Cross shelter.Moreno said that the firefighters should receive as much admiration as the soccer players who won the World Cup on Sunday. The firefighters 'had to run from one side of the village to the other putting out fires,' Moreno told Spanish national television TVE. 'Besides the heroes who won the World Cup, we have other heroes who remain nameless.' Smoke rises from the wildfire of La Mierla in Condemios de Arriba, Guadalajara, Spain July 22 A firefighting helicopter drops water on the flames as a wildfire advances near Condemios de Arriba, Guadalajara province, Spain, Wednesday, July 22 Fire-fighting helicopters work to extinguish a fire that broke out late July 21 at El Cerro del Andevalo (Huelva), Spain This photograph shows burnt car and trees following a wildfire near Le Porge, southwestern France on July 23 Firefighters try to extinguishing fires burning trees using a wildland water truck near Le Porge, southwestern France on July 23Spain’s weather agency said a heat wave that began Tuesday was expected to reach its peak between Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures pushing 40C in several inland areas and crossing 42C in parts of Andalusia, in southern Spain.Guadalajara and large areas of Spain were under alert for high temperatures.Like many other European countries, Spain is experiencing extreme heat, which is combining with wind and limited rainfall to create ideal conditions for small wildfires to grow unchecked. Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as quickly as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Globally, 2025 was the third-hottest year on record, bringing severe heat waves across Europe. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness especially in southeastern Europe, making the region more vulnerable to health impacts and wildfires. In Sicily, firefighters said they had carried out more than 1,000 operations since Saturday and have put all the Italian island’s fire departments on double shifts to cope with the blazes.The latest was a wildland-urban blaze in Agrigento, in central western Sicily that required the evacuation of 100 people from homes and a clinic, with 22 patients transferred to other facilities, the national service said. Firefighters were particularly concerned about an oxygen storage plant nearby.For days, Italy’s Civil Protection agency has declared all of Sicily at the highest risk for wildfires. Winds and temperatures near or above 40C have fueled blazes from near Palermo on the northern coast to Catania in the east and now Agrigento in the west. Wildfires continue to burn in several parts of Sicily as firefighting efforts remain underway in Palermo, Sicily, Italy on July 22Greece was sweltering under what was forecast to be the last of a four-day heat wave.Temperatures were predicted to top 42C, while several regions in southern and central Greece, including the wider Athens area, were on the highest alert level for wildfire danger.Cyprus, meanwhile, issued a warning for high temperatures expected to reach 43C.In Britain, it hasn’t rained in more than a month in some areas, and much of the southern half of England is in a state of 'prolonged dry weather,' one step before a drought. Thames Water, the country’s biggest water company, has banned its 10 million customers from using hoses to water lawns or wash cars starting Thursday.