Historic wildfires in France and Spain have forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate. Here's what to know

PARIS (AP) — Heat waves and scant rainfall in Europe have contributed to historic wildfires in France and Spain that have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in one of the continent's biggest evacuation efforts since World War II.

Rising temperatures later this week could complicate efforts to battle the blazes that have scorched an area four times the size of Paris in southwestern France and are raging near Spain's capital, Madrid.

READ MORE: France says enormous wildfire that forced 220,000 people to flee has stopped growing

Climate data shows Europe is heating faster than anywhere else on earth. The continent has already faced extreme heat events multiple times this year.

Firefighters in Spain have called the blazes so violent that they could not be tackled head on. But the first glimmer of hope emerged Monday in France that the spread of a giant fire in the southwestern Gironde region may have slowed.