Europe wildfires latest: French evacuation may be largest peacetime exodus as new heatwave hits Bordeaux

President Macron says France facing its most difficult situation since Second World War

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French authorities have ordered 4,000 more people to leave tourist sites along the country’s Atlantic coast, expanding what may be France ’s largest peacetime evacuation as a vast wildfire west of Bordeaux raged.

The Gironde fire has burned an area four times the size of Paris and forced 220,000 people to leave their homes.

A renewed heatwave was threatening firefighters’ fragile hold on the blaze, and fresh flames have erupted near Grand Crohot, a popular Atlantic beach on the Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula, local authorities said.

A fleet of 23 planes and helicopters — up from 18 — dropped water and fire retardant as the mayor of Marcheprime in Gironde said France was at “war with an enemy” and called for more resources for firefighters.

French meteorological agency Meteo-France placed Gironde and Landes under a yellow heatwave warning.

President Emmanuel Macron said France was facing its most difficult situation since the Second World War, urging fire crews to “stay strong”.

More than 360,000 people across France and Spain in total have been forced to flee.

The new heatwave is forecast to last until at least Sunday.

The fires and evacuations in France have not deterred some holidaymakers.

Campsites, holiday villages, tourist residences and leisure parks around the resort of Lacanau were all covered by the evacuation order.

But as nearby homes burned and authorities urged tourists to stay away, one family told Le Parisien newspaper they had gone ahead with their trip rather than forfeit a 4,000-euro (£3,400) holiday.

Another group debated abandoning a holiday that had cost 650 euros (£550) each.

"We are at a point of fragility," Eric Brocardi, of France's national firefighters federation, told the BFMTV broadcast network. "We will continue attacking this fire despite the forecast rise in temperatures."

People have described “apocalyptic” scenes in France as orange plumes filled the skies, turning them orange, as seen here at a holidaymaker beach in Lacanau, on the west coast of France.

French authorities have ordered nearly 4,000 more people to evacuate Atlantic coast tourist sites as more heat threatened firefighters' fragile hold on a vast wildfire west of Bordeaux, widening what may be France's largest peacetime evacuation.

Fire crews held the blaze in the Gironde region in check through a calm night, bringing flare-ups near coastal dunes under control and keeping the burned area unchanged at 420 sq km (162 sq miles).

Authorities called the fire stabilised, but not contained, and said it was still capable of breaking loose as temperatures rose and humidity fell.

Fresh flames have since erupted near Grand Crohot, a popular holiday beach on the Lège-Cap-Ferret peninsula, local authorities said.

Firefighters backed by water-dropping aircraft battled the renewed flames to keep them from spreading.

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