French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the country had never before seen such fires on this scale.
France and Spain evacuated more than 160,000 people as out-of-control forest fires raged on Saturday near Madrid and Bordeaux, with the French army drafted in to the fight against the worst wildfire the country has ever seen.
The smell of burning reached central Madrid early Saturday, as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was set to visit the zone wracked by what officials have called the surrounding region's worst fire on record.
The major fires have been burning for two or three days, with many hundreds of firefighters battling them around the clock, to the point of exhaustion. Both countries have asked for EU help.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday ordered the military to enter the fiery fray, which hit residents and holidaymakers alike at the peak of France's vacation season.
