French President Emmanuel Macron has called a crisis cabinet meeting as wildfires close in on Bordeaux, with a fresh heatwave threatening to worsen the situation. The blaze in the Gironde region, now around 15km from the city, has produced an unprecedented "pyrocumulonimbus" fire thunderstorm that firefighters say cannot be tackled directly, while temperatures are forecast to hit 40C from Tuesday.

Wildfires have swept across France and Spain over the past week, with more than 330,000 people evacuated across both countries. In France, about 42,000 hectares have burned in the south-west alone, among the largest forest fires since the Second World War, with 98,000 hectares scorched nationwide and over 220,000 people evacuated; Bordeaux's roughly 850,000 residents are not currently being evacuated. In Spain, around 77,000 hectares have burned, including the largest fire in the Ávila region's recent history, with about 15,000 people fleeing near Valencia; Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called for a "major public pact" on climate change.