Sawt Falasteen - France, Spain race to contain 'monster' fires ahead of new heatwave

The fires tearing through forests in southwest France, around the prized wine-making region of Bordeaux, and in central Spain around the capital Madrid have been some of the worst in decades and have hit at the height of the summer holiday season.

More than 325,000 people have fled their homes in the face of the blazes feeding on forests left super-dry by successive heatwaves and lack of rain since May.

"Everyone had to get out of the village quickly -- it was a critical situation and people were scared," Olga Congacha, 50, told AFP on a highway in the Madrid region, where police had closed off access to her home, Robledo de Chavela.

"My husband and I left with all that we could grab -- our important documents and some clothes."

France's fire has caused a "pyrocumulonimbus" -- a giant fire cloud that can create its own winds and packs lightning and sometimes tornadoes that can cause more blazes, according to France's national firefighters federation, who said the phenomenon had never before been seen in the country.

"It's a David-versus-Goliath scenario... at some point, we'll find a weak spot and strike there," said federation spokesman Eric Brocardi.

Thousands of firefighters, backed by specialised water-bombing aircraft have been battling the blazes and the clouds of toxic smoke.

French President Emmanuel Macron will hold a crisis cabinet meeting to discuss the emergency on Monday, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will visit a fire-hit area in Valencia, in the east of the country where firefighters are battling a new blaze.

Spain's civil protection chief Virginia Barcones on Sunday said the country was battling a "monster" in the fire around Avila.

"We are dealing with a perimeter of 280 kilometres encompassing 77,000 hectares (190,000 acres)," Barcones told state broadcaster TVE.

- 'Extremely intense' -

Scientists say climate change is making such extreme weather events more frequent and intense.

In France, the prefect of the southwestern Gironde region, where the country's fires are concentrated, urged tourists to stay away and seek "other destinations".

"The wind is changing so much, it's really the fire calling the shots," a firefighter said.

The fire has ravaged 42,000 hectares in Gironde -- an area seven times the size of Manhattan -- since Wednesday.

Around 220,000 people have been evacuated in the region, with 45 campsites forced to shut, ruining the holiday plans of around 40,000 people. Another 30,000 people have been forced to flee fires in other regions in France.

The Gironde local authority said early Monday that the fire had remained "broadly stable" overnight.

Garden hose in hand, Georges Clivaz sprayed water along a road leading to his property in Saint-Jean-d'Illac in Gironde as the blaze burned a few kilometres away.

"We're doing this to slow down the fire's advance; we want to save our homes," he told AFP.

Although the village was evacuated on Friday, Clivaz said he and his family were trying to hold out.

"But the firefighters are telling us that in two or three hours the fire will be here."

- New heatwave -

Weather forecasters warn another heatwave could hit France from Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 40C in some areas.

Around 75,000 residents have been evacuated from the Madrid region, Avila, Toledo and from the eastern region of Castellon in Valencia.

On Monday authorities said the fire "was not yet under control" but in a sign of progress said they would reopen a campsite where 4,500 people had been evacuated and also allow elderly residents back home in another area, if the conditions permit.

Officials said winds were pushing wildfires near Madrid to the south, away from the capital for now, but forcing more evacuations of villages in their path.

The fire near Valencia in Spain killed one person on Saturday, the only civilian death reported so far in the blazes. In France, two firefighters died near Bordeaux on Tuesday.

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N.Awad--SF-PST