Authorities in Gironde said on Tuesday that the large fire raging outside Bordeaux is stable, but still not under control.
"We are in a fragile situation," Eric Brocardi, spokesman for the country's national fire association, told BFMTV.
After a couple of days of more favorable weather, temperatures have risen and winds are expected to pick up. Météo-France is predicting temperatures of up to 40 degrees in the area in the coming days.
We will continue to fight the fire despite the predicted rise in temperature, said Brocardi.
New evacuations
On Tuesday, authorities ordered new evacuations in the municipality of Lacanau in Gironde. The evacuations are being carried out to "facilitate rescue operations," the authorities said.
"All campsites in the town, by the lake and by the sea will be evacuated peacefully in the next few hours," a post on social media reads.
On Tuesday, the mayor of Lège-Cap Ferret also announced that the fire had intensified near one of the beaches in the municipality.
"At this stage, the evacuation order is still in effect. For your safety, it is absolutely necessary not to enter the municipality," local authorities wrote on social media.
Around 240 houses have been destroyed in the huge fire, which has forced more than 220,000 people to leave their homes and holiday homes. Nearly 3,000 firefighters are involved in the firefighting effort, supported by the military and volunteers.
High temperatures
In Spain, where the fire in Ávila outside Madrid is the largest to hit the country, authorities are cautiously optimistic, although they emphasize that the fires are not under control.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said during a press conference that firefighters are starting to see "light at the end of the tunnel."
"We are really turning the tide, and we can begin to see light at the end of the tunnel in the fight against these fires, with all the precautions, especially in the complex days and hours ahead," Sanchez said.
The country's national weather agency AEMET is warning that a new heatwave is on the way, with temperatures as high as 42 degrees Celsius in parts of the country. The agency writes that the fire risk "is rising to very high or extreme levels across almost the entire country."
Around 60,000 people have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the fires, AFP reports.
