Raging wildfires across southern Europe have forced thousands of residents to flee their homes and prompted officials to ban spectators from a stage of the Tour de France.
The drastic measures follow a record-breaking early summer heatwave, raising warnings of "powder keg" conditions across multiple countries.
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Blazes Across Multiple Countries
Hundreds of firefighters are currently tackling intense blazes that have burned through almost 20,000 hectares (49,500 acres) in Portugal, Spain, France, and Greece.
Forecasters expect strong winds to fan the flames further as temperatures rise again this week.
In the remote foothills of the French Pyrenees near the Spanish border, 700 firefighters struggled to contain an out-of-control wildfire.
The blaze has scorched 5,000 hectares and prompted the evacuation of more than 10,000 individuals.
"This morning, conditions are deteriorating again," said French interior minister Laurent Nuñez on Monday, adding that with wildfires now blazing in five departments, twice as much land had burned in France so far this season compared with the same time last year.
The Pyrenees fire has nearly tripled in size since Sunday.
A resident from the village of Trévillach named Patrice told Agence France-Presse that the fire came within 300 meters of the houses, noting that the speed of its spread was staggering and bordered on panic.
The ongoing blazes follow a premature May heatwave and another in June that shattered temperature records across western Europe.
These extreme conditions caused thousands of excess deaths and left vast areas of land vulnerable to wildfires.
