Gwyn Loader
In Bordeaux on behalf of BBC-produced Newyddion S4C

We arrived in Bordeaux yesterday and travelled westwards to see how authorities were dealing with this crisis.

As journalists, we were allowed past several police cordons as we made our way, travelling through villages and towns which were deserted and more or less ghost towns.

Fires were breaking out sporadically and you didn't know where the next one was going to start and take hold.

We travelled to the village of le Temple, in the Gironde region, where fires were burning out of control.

Ground crews were unable to control the fire there and drafted in aircraft which dropped water and fire retardant over the blazes. They managed to eventually get the flames to subside, before moving on to tackle the next blaze.

That's the difficulty here, once you extinguish one fire there's another one breaking out a few kilometres down the road.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Returning to the situation in Spain, the regional president of Madrid has said the wildfire situation is improving "little by little" and that authorities are considering letting some people return to their homes.

In a post on X, Isabel Díaz Ayuso says that officials "can be more positive today" and can consider letting residents in several municipalities return.

She also expresses her gratitude to the emergency services for their "enormous effort and resilience".

Image source, Getty Images

A resident who has been evacuated from Cap Ferret, a headland west of Bordeaux, believes it could be "10 days to a couple of weeks" before he can return to his home.

Alistair Burke says he was woken at 04:00 local time (03:00 BST) when the fire broke out last week and had to wake up his neighbours and help them and their young children to evacuate.

He tells BBC Breakfast there had been "ominous warnings" since the fire started and that he had already evacuated his dog and some belongings.

He adds that there is "relative calm" in Arcachon, the town he is staying in opposite Cap Ferret, and today is the first day he has been able to see the sun after smoke and clouds obscured the sky.

Image source, Reuters

A sense of "spontaneous solidarity" has been set by French residents in a Gironde commune to help those affected by the wildfires, a city councillor has said.

Julien Boinet, who lives in Bazas, tells Radio 4's Today programme that the area is now seeing many "refugees, for lack of a better word" due to the ongoing blazes.

He says the city has been doing a collection of necessary items such as blankets and nappies for babies.

"People open [their] house as well, making sure that people can stay because it's not fun to stay on a military bed for that many days," Boinet says.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

French President Emmanuel Macron has said the wildfires raging near the city of Bordeaux are the "toughest since the Second World War".

"We must understand we are facing a completely unprecedented wildfire. The situation we are dealing with is the most severe we have ever recorded," Macron said during a visit to the Gironde region on Monday.

Speaking separately to reporters, Macron also said a fire in the Landes region had been contained and brought under control.

The AFP news agency reports that Macron said that every available resource has been deployed with more than 1,500 military personnel helping to tackle the fire.

The French President added that firebreaks have been dug and reinforced to stop the fire's advance.

Helen Rossington
Senior meteorologist

Bordeaux will stay dry over the next couple of days, with temperatures forecast to peak at 39C tomorrow.

Winds will start the day as easterly and fairly light, however this afternoon the wind will switch to a north-westerly for a time. Later this evening they will become easterly again.

There is a chance of a few showers in the region on Friday.

Satellite imagery from 07:00 (BST) shows clear skies - apart from the smoke - across all the main fire zones.

The temperatures in Madrid will remain in the high thirties over the next few days, and are forecast to reach 39C on Friday.

It will also be dry, with the chance of a few showers on Friday - but not widespread rain.

Winds near Madrid will be fairly light and generally from the south through the day today. They become light and variable in direction tonight, and may be slightly stronger on Wednesday and from the south-west.

Image source, Getty Images

A Spanish journalist in Cebreros - a town around 40 miles west of Madrid - says people are watching on with fear as a heatwave returns.

Juan Navarro tells the BBC there has been "three days of positives" for firefighters, who have made important advances.

But Tuesday will be difficult for the emergency services as temperatures approach 40C. Navarro says that when you drive through villages in the area around Cebreros, "everything is black".

Bordeaux resident Chris de Abrea tells the Today programme he is leaving the city for Paris today.

"[It] reminds me a little bit like Pompeii, especially over the weekend, the air was quite smokey, it was quite difficult to breathe. The smell of burning was pretty much all around the city," he says.

He says that while many in the city are "just getting on" with their lives, others are contemplating staying with relatives elsewhere.

The main concerns for people, he says, are "'where do I go from here if I don’t have family?' and then, 'will I see my home again?'"

He says he "never" thought things would come to the situation now unfolding near Bordeaux, describing it as "almost surreal".

"It's just scary to know that the fire could get this close."

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Spain's national weather service says there are "extreme" fire risks due to intense heat and dryness across the country.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said yesterday that Monday and Tuesday were "absolutely crucial days" to control the country's wildfires.

On Monday, the interior ministry said more than 60,000 had been evacuated in the Madrid, Avila, and Toledo regions.

The weather service says high temperatures are forecast last until "at least" Sunday.

María Eugenia Olive, the technical director of the Official Association of Forest Technical Engineers, says firefighting efforts are becoming "increasingly complicated" due to the high temperatures.

Image source, Getty Images

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Image source, Reuters

Drone photos below show the destruction caused by the wildfire in Le Porge, Gironde - a town around 18 miles (30km) west of Bordeaux.

Yesterday, France's interior minister Laurent Nuñez said the fire in Gironde had a "life of its own".

An estimated 220,000 people have been forced to evacuate in the region, with at least 240 houses destroyed.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Hugh Schofield
Paris Correspondent

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Firefighters west of Bordeaux are reporting a relatively good night, in which they’ve been able to put out a number of new outbreaks but the overall surface of the destruction has not increased.

The situation, they say, remains stabilised – but not under control.

Today though will be crucial because temperatures are set to climb steeply into the late 30s.

This return of the heat, combined with a wind from the east, will act on smouldering embers of vegetation and cause them to burst back into flame.

Overnight and this morning the task is to create more firebreaks by clearing brush, and to locate and douse as soon as possible any new sign of combustion.

Image source, Reuters

Welcome back to our live coverage of the European wildfires, with firefighters racing to contain wildfires in Spain and France as another heatwave hits.

Temperatures are expected to approach 40C in some regions with Spain's national weather service warning that severe weather is forecast to last until "at least" Sunday.

France's south-west regions Gironde and Landes are under "yellow alert" for a heatwave expected to peak on Wednesday.

Around 220,000 people have been forced to evacuate in the Gironde region of France, which has been hardest hit by the fires.

The French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned on Monday that the fire has a "life of its own" as it burns just nine miles (15km) from the outskirts of the city of Bordeaux.

In Spain, around 105,000 people have been evacuated as fires burn "uncontrolled" west of the Spanish capital Madrid in three regions.

We'll have all the latest from across Europe on this page.

Image source, Reuters

The wildfire burning in Gironde has a "life of its own," the French interior minister has said, as blazes continue to burn in France and Spain.

A blaze is now just nine miles (15km) from the outskirts of the city of Bordeaux.

An estimated 220,000 people have been forced to evacuate in the Gironde region, and about 42,000 hectares have been burnt, with 240 houses destroyed.

President Emmanuel Macron thanked responders for their hard work on a visit to Bordeaux earlier today, saying "the whole nation is behind you," in comments reported by Reuters.

In Spain, major fires are burning about 31 miles (50km) west of Madrid.

About 105,000 people have been evacuated, with an estimated 77,000 hectares affected by fires in the Madrid, Avila and Toledo regions.

While man-made climate change did not provide the sparks that started these fires, it is making the hotter, drier conditions that allow fires to spread faster and burn more fiercely more likely, our climate editor Justin Rowlatt writes.

And if you were planning to travel to France or Spain, our business reporter Mitchell Labiak explains everything you need to know.

• We're pausing our live coverage now, but you can read more about the wildfires in our news story.

Elizabeth Rizzini
Lead weather presenter

Air quality is massively impacted by wildfires.

For a start, whatever is burned will produce fine particles in the atmosphere that can then enter the human body causing short term and long term health impacts.

It's usually vegetation that burns - trees, bushes, wood etc - and when these are burned pollutants like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides are released.

High pressure can often create a temperature inversion.

This is where a layer of warmer air acts as a lid on a top of cooler air, trapping pollutants near the surface of the Earth, where of course, we breathe the air.

Wind patterns could then disperse the pollutants across a much wider area than the actual fire itself.

There aren't only impacts on public health but also on agriculture, crops are damaged and lakes and rivers can turn more acidic damaging their ecosystems.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The Gironde regional government has published some figures on the current status of the wildfire burning west of Bordeaux:

Estimated burned area: 42,000 hectares

People evacuated since the fire began: about 220,000

Resources mobilised:

• 2,750 firefighters
• 18 aerial firefighting assets
• 1,500 military personnel
• 1,440 internal security personnel

Firefighters injured since the fire began: 88

Homes destroyed: 240

As firefighters continue to battle the blaze, authorities are urging people not to return to the affected area yet.

French President Emmanuel Macron has visited the Departmental Fire and Rescue Operational Centre in Bordeaux this afternoon, as wildfires continue to burn in the Gironde region.

Interior minister Laurent Nunez also travelled with the president, where they got a briefing from some of those tackling the fires.

Pictured with them are Gironde's prefect Sophie Brocas, and Marc Vermeulen, who is departmental director of the region's fire service.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The Prince of Wales is offering thoughts for "everyone affected by the devastating wildfires across France, Spain and the UK".

In the message, posted on social media and signed "W", he says: "We are deeply grateful to the firefighters, emergency services and volunteers working tirelessly in extraordinarily difficult conditions.

"These events are a stark reminder of the challenges posed by an increasingly extreme climate and the importance of protecting both people and nature."

Image source, PA Media

Gwyn Loader
Chief correspondent, Newyddion S4C, in Gironde

To the west of Le Temple, we’ve witnessed fires still raging in the vast countryside of south-west France, flames leaping several feet into the air and thick black smoke clouding the vicinity.

There are several fire crews battling the flames here and aircraft from Canada have been pulled in to assist, dropping bright red retardant over the burning shrubs.

This morning did see a little respite, but with no rain forecast over the coming days and temperatures set to reach 40C or higher, locals tell me they are concerned the situation could worsen still this week.

Image source, Getty Images

French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in the Gironde region to meet those responding to the wildfires.

We will bring you more updates on this when we can.