Before-and-after images have revealed the devastating full extent of wildfires in southwestern France, as flames bear down on Bordeaux.Satellite photos show hectares of once-verdant forest scorched to the ground, as well as rows of houses transformed into unrecognisable wreckages.Busy streets are now nothing more than burnt ghost towns, after 200,000 residents were forced to flee the inferno.One Brit living near Bordeaux told the BBC her home is like 'a warzone', while another resident in the city says it is blanketed in a 'thick smoke haze'. It comes as EU officials have warned that wildfires could still be burning as late as early November, in what threatens to be a record-breaking year for the region consumed by flames. Looting has broken out in Bordeaux's empty suburbs as the terrifying wildfire moves to within seven miles of the ancient city.An army of volunteer firefighters has descended on the area to battle the blaze, so large it makes its own lightning storms.British holidaymakers have been urged to abandon travel plans to the Gironde region ‘at least until the fire has been brought under control’, while those already there have been told to make other arrangements.The stark images emerged as:French President Emmanuel Macron prepared to visit the scorched earth landscapeA volunteer army descended on the region to stop the fire reaching Bordeaux The country is bracing for another blowtorch 40C heatwave with warnings of more fires to come Looting was reported in empty Bordeaux suburbs Fires continued to rage in other parts of France and near Madrid, Spain Before: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, before it was completely ravaged by flames, in Gironde, France on July 26 After: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, following devastating wildfires Before: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, before it was completely ravaged by flames, in Gironde, France on July 26 After: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, following devastating wildfires Before: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, before it was completely ravaged by flames, in Gironde, France on July 26 After: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, following devastating wildfiresSophie Brocas, the region’s prefect, said: ‘We urge tourists not to come to this region, at least until the situation is under control. I encourage tourists who are already here to consider another destination.’ In total, an area of 42,000 hectares has been scorched in one of the largest forest fires since the Second World War. Since the start of 2026, about 116,000 hectares of forest and vegetation burned.To prevent crime, such as burglaries, the Gironde police have deployed a massive security system, in place 24 hours a day, in the evacuated area. On Sunday, a 45-year-old woman, already known to Bordeaux authorities, was arrested after she was caught with a bag full of jewellery, tools and decorative items. She was unable to explain to police where they came from, newspaper Le Parisien reported. On Saturday, a man was apprehended in Eysines with 44 bottles of stolen Grand Cru wine in his vehicle, which police allege was looted from an evacuated home.A European Commission official said the wildfire season had started in April and could last until early November. The European commissioner for crisis response Hadja Lahbib has claimed it is likely the damage from the blazes will surpass previous records. She has ordered the dispatch of seven planes and four helicopters to France, as well as six planes and three forest firefighting teams to Spain, after both nations triggered the bloc’s emergency assistance mechanism. EU officials have also been sent to the Bordeaux region to help local authorities, who are grappling with the mega fire that has burned an area four times the size of Paris. Meanwhile, local farmers volunteered to help firefighters, with footage posted on social media showing a convoy of tractors towing huge water tankers, so firefighters could fight the flames without interruption.'We ⁠came to lend a hand because if it were our region, we'd want others to do the ​same. And given the scale of the disaster, we ​think our ⁠efforts are very welcome too,' said 65-year-old farmer Pascal Roudier.In France, nearly 80 per cent of its approximately 250,000 firefighters are volunteers. This summer, many of them have already been heavily deployed in their home departments after the fire season began early – just as spring ended. Before: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, before it was completely ravaged by flames, in Gironde, France on July 26 After: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, following devastating wildfires Before: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, before it was completely ravaged by flames, in Gironde, France on July 26 After: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, following devastating wildfires Before: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, before it was completely ravaged by flames, in Gironde, France on July 26 After: Aerial photos of the town of Porge, following devastating wildfiresDeadly wildfires have ravaged the Cap Ferret peninsula on the Atlantic coast, a popular tourist destination, and spread through areas surrounding Bordeaux, where firefighters are trying to prevent the flames from reaching the regional capital.‘We have a fire ​that is not under control and which is moving in the direction of the city area,’ Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told France 2 TV on Sunday evening.‘The overall situation is very ​unfavourable; we are in a situation that is unprecedented.’Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said on Sunday that there were no plans to evacuate Bordeaux, whose wider metropolitan area has ⁠a population of about 850,000.Nunez said authorities would continue to assess the situation calmly and realistically.At a press conference this morning, he said this year’s wildfires are 'completely exceptional,' with the damage far exceeding the 70,000 hectares reported in total last year. On the blaze in Gironde, he says it is 'stabilised' but 'not contained,' and remains 'very complicated to control,' due to a number of 'unprecedented' phenomena observed, including pyrocumulonimbus clouds, reported in France for the first time ever. A pyrocumulonimbus is a gigantic fire cloud that creates its own winds and packs lightning that causes more blazes, said the National Firefighters Federation of France (FNSPF).'It's a David-versus-Goliath scenario... at some point, we'll find a weak spot and strike there,' said FNSPF spokesman Eric Brocardi.As the blaze advanced, police went door-to-door overnight in the municipalities of Marcheprime and Cestas, evacuating residents one ​home at a time.French authorities released footage showing officers knocking on doors in the dark and urging people to leave.