FRANCE – Wildfires have torn through southern Europe, forcing thousands from their homes and prompting authorities to take the unprecedented step of banning spectators from a Tour de France stage.

More than 19 000 hectares of land — an area twice the size of Manhattan — has been consumed by flames across Portugal, Spain, France and Greece since the weekend. Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blazes as temperatures are forecast to climb back to 40°C in the coming days.

Near the city of Perpignan in southwestern France, 700 firefighters supported by special aircraft are working to contain a “gigantic” blaze in a remote area. More than 10 000 residents have been evacuated as the fire, fanned by wind and exceptionally dry air, nearly tripled in size since early Sunday.

The flames have devoured 4 600 hectares, injuring one firefighter and one resident, according to local authorities.

Patrice (53), a resident of the village of Trevillach who declined to give his surname, described the terrifying speed of the fire’s advance.

“The fire came within 300 metres of the houses. We were taken aback by how fast it spread, it was staggering — bordering on panic,” he said.

Charlotte Pignol (30) was among the first evacuated from her home early Sunday morning.

“We started seeing smoke around 10:30 pm, then it kept coming closer and closer. Someone from the town hall knocked on our door around 1:00 am to tell us to leave,” she said.

The disaster comes shortly after June’s devastating heatwave, one of Europe’s worst on record. The extreme heat event, during which thousands of excess deaths were registered, would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, according to the World Weather Attribution group of scientists.

With temperatures set to rise again, authorities have expressed alarm that the annual summer wildfire season has started a month early.

“Climate change is here, we are living the consequences and it is only the start of July,” said French fire service Colonel Eric Belgioino, appealing to people near the Pyrenees inferno to take precautions.

“The season is going to be long for the soldiers fighting fires. You have to help us,” he pleaded.

Tour de France without fans

In an unprecedented move, officials announced that Monday’s third stage of the Tour de France through the Pyrenees would take place without spectators.

The stage, which sees cyclists ride from Spain into France, “will be limited to the passage of the riders only and the vehicles essential to organising the race” on French territory, regional prefect Pierre Regnault de la Mothe told reporters.

“The public is asked not to go near the route or to the finish area. In other words, and I regret having to say this, it will be, in France at least, a stage of the Tour de France without spectators,” he said.

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Blazes across the region

In Greece, flames from a forest fire engulfed two factories in Thessaloniki over the weekend, forcing authorities to evacuate the surrounding area and warn households to keep windows closed.

A fire near Spain’s northeastern Costa Brava coast has burned more than 2 200 hectares in two days. Firefighters warned their efforts would be “complicated” by rising temperatures and the many “smoking hotspots” within the fire’s perimeter.

In Portugal, emergency services said they had controlled 80% of a wildfire that devastated some 13 000 hectares of forest and scrub land in the north of the country.

Major fires have also destroyed hundreds of hectares of forest, vineyards and scrub land on the Croatian island of Hvar and at Tale in Albania.

Regions across Portugal, Spain and southern France have stepped up heat alerts for the coming days. The latest heatwave was expected to move north on Monday and could last until next weekend, according to forecasters.

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