The story so far : Southwestern Europe is witnessing one of its worst wildfire emergencies in decades. Since late July, untamed fires in France’s Gironde department and across three provinces west of Spain’s Madrid have driven over 325,000 people from their homes.Both the countries have been dealing with dozens of minor wildfires amid deadly heatwaves circulating through the continent. France’s fire broke out near Saumos in the Médoc on July 22 and tore toward Lège-Cap-Ferret, forcing evacuation of the entire Arcachon Bay area. By July 26, flames sat barely 15 km from Bordeaux. Gironde’s prefecture had ordered 220,000 people out, and crews lit deliberate “backfires” near Marcheprime as a last defensive line. In Spain, regional authorities suspect a blaze that started near Burgohondo, in Avila’s Sierra de Gredos, around July 20-21, swept through the Valle de Iruelas nature reserve, merged with a fire in Madrid and reached into Toledo province. By July 26, its perimeter measured some 160 km, with nearly 89,000 people evacuated.Wildfires amid Europe’s summer heatwaveRoughly 69,500 hectares in France have been lost to wildfires since January, according to the EU’s EFFIS satellite system. Spain’s toll stands near 150,000 hectares for the same period, with the Avila-Madrid-Toledo fire alone damaging 77,000 hectares, according to the country’s Environment Minister.France has deployed about 1,000 firefighters, a military aircraft carrying 20,000 litres of retardant, and planes loaned by Croatia, Portugal, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Spain has mobilised over 2,700 personnel, including a military emergency unit, plus planes from Greece, Italy, Portugal and Turkey through the EU’s civil-protection mechanism. Both crises coincide with Europe’s ongoing third summer heatwave. An earlier spell led to roughly 1,000 excess deaths in France in June.