Strong winds, temperatures exceeding 30°C and rugged terrain have hampered firefighting efforts
Wildfires in Spain and France have forced thousands into lockdown, with hundreds more evacuated, as a heatwave drove temperatures to record levels across Europe.
Spanish authorities have ordered more than 18,000 people to remain indoors and dozens more were evacuated as wildfires raged across Catalonia.
The blaze, which broke out on Monday in the remote Pauls village in the Tarragona province, has burned nearly 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) of vegetation.
Strong winds, temperatures exceeding 30°C and rugged terrain have hampered firefighting efforts, local officials said.
An emergency military unit was deployed early on Tuesday to assist more than 300 firefighters battling the flames.
Firefighting efforts in Xerta, one of the affected villages in Tarragona province (Photo: Nacho Doce/Reuters)
David Borrell, the regional fire inspector, said in a statement that gusts of wind reached up to 90kph (56mph) overnight.
“We have been working all night in a very precarious, very hard way, and we have been protecting the population,” he added.
The strong Mistral wind was set to ease on Tuesday afternoon, local authorities said.
Residents from the village of Xerta told The i Paper they watched in terror as flames encircled their homes overnight, saying “the flames were very loud – you can’t see how far away they are in the dark”.
A fire-fighting aircraft Air Tractor AT-802 drops fire retardant over a wildfire near Aussieres neighbourhood, close to the city of Narbonne, southwestern France (Photo: Matthieu Rondel/AFP via Getty)
The inferno comes after Spain experienced its warmest June on record, with large parts of the country placed under high alert for wildfires.
Two people died on 1 July in a separate fire in Spain, which broke out in a rural area of Torrefeta in Catalonia.
Meanwhile, at least five people and five firefighters were injured in southern France, where a forest fire raged for a second day, burning 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) of vegetation.
More than 1,000 firefighters battled the blaze overnight after it broke out on the property of a winery south of the city of Narbonne on Monday afternoon.
A view of the blaze from Plage des Corbieres, on the outskirts of Marseille, southern France (Photo: Clement Mahoudeau/AFP)
A separate fire broke out on Tuesday near the town of Les Pennes-Mirabeau, north of Marseille, France’s second-largest city.
The blaze, which is estimated to be around 74 acres, has forced the closure of Marseille Provence airport.
A local fire service earlier said 168 firefighters had been deployed to battle flames near Les Pennes-Mirabeau.
Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan warned people in the 16th arrondissement of the city to “remain confined” as the blaze approaches.
He wrote on X: “The violent fire declared in Pennes-Mirabeau is now at the gates of Marseille.
“I ask all Marseillais to be extremely vigilant and to limit their movements as much as possible to make way for emergency services, particularly in the north of the city.”
Payan added that the French Navy would form part of the response to the blaze.
There have been no reports of casualties.
The spokesperson for Marseille airport said planes had not been taking off or landing since around midday.
The spokesperson added that some flights heading to the airport had been diverted to Nice, Nimes and other regional airports.
It was unclear when the airport would reopen.