About 12,000 people have been evacuated from southwest France as the country battles wildfires days after two firefighters died near Bordeaux airport, French media reported.
The Gironde government said more than 2,400 hectares (5,900 acres) land was destroyed.
The use of internal combustion and electric engines was banned in predominantly forested areas and a number of roads were closed. No injuries were reported Thursday.
In Italy, authorities paid tribute to a firefighter who died battling a forest fire in San Cataldo, while Sicilian President Renato Schifani wished a “speedy recovery” to another involved in the same operation.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi has paid tribute to the late firefighter Alessandro Marchi, who died “in the service of the community”.
“He will not be forgotten,” he said in a post on X.
In a statement released Wednesday, the head of Sicily’s Civil Protection, Salvo Cocina, said there had been more than 350 fires on the island, including ten major ones that led to preventive evacuations.
He said the fires had human causes, adding that firefighting had become a social and law and order problem.
Meanwhile, in France, the AFP news agency reported that 10,000 tourists were among those evacuated.
Gironde remains under red alert, with the closure of certain leisure sites in exposed forest areas Thursday afternoon and evening.
Yassmina de Freitas, 19, who lives in the coastal town of Porge, said she noticed smoke and a burning smell around lunchtime on Wednesday.
In the afternoon “ashes… [and] half-burnt tree bark” was falling, the sky was “very dark” and the smoke was getting “thicker and thicker”.
At around 8:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. BST), his family was evacuated by law enforcement and taken to a gymnasium in a nearby town. They had to leave two of their cats and four chickens behind as they could not be found in the rush to leave.
She said she couldn’t sleep at all and woke up every hour to check on the progress of the fire.
“I saw the number of acres burned steadily increasing,” she said.
New evacuations took place Thursday morning on the Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula, south of Porge.
BBC South presenter Jo Kent is on holiday with her family in France, staying at Lesley Pastourelles campsite, in the village of Claouey, near Lège.
She said several people at the campsite who were very concerned about the situation had already left and those who remained had been warned to prepare to evacuate.
The main road leading south from the peninsula, which is normally filled with “end-to-end traffic”, is empty and the supermarket is “surprisingly quiet”, Kent added.
In the Var region of southeastern France, evacuated residents were told they could return home Thursday morning to assess potential damage to properties. However, he warned people to limit their movements in the area due to the risk of the fire resuming as the wind picks up in the afternoon.
Several French departments were ravaged by forest fires during a series of unusual and prolonged heatwaves that swept across Europe this summer.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez paid tribute to the two firefighters who died Tuesday near Bordeaux airport. He posted photos from an event on Wednesday, saying the moment was filled with “immense emotion” as he expressed “infinite gratitude” and “unwavering support” to their families.
Madrid was also hit by fires, but overnight most evacuated residents were told they could return home, except for one area of Villa del Prado.
A nearby fire is still burning and nearly 90 people and a helicopter have been deployed to bring the flames under control. Local authorities continued to warn Thursday morning of an “extreme risk of fires”.
Spain’s weather service AEMET said temperatures of up to 36°C are forecast for the afternoon.
Countries in Europe have experienced record temperatures in recent months.
A report released in April by the Copernicus Climate Change Service found that at least 95% of Europe experienced “above average” annual temperatures in 2025 and identified Europe as the fastest warming continent.
The area burned by fires and emissions from fires both reached record levels last year, according to the report.
