Firefighters are scrambling to put out raging wildfires as temperatures surge close to 50°C across parts of Europe.
Thousands of homes have been evacuated across Spain, France and Turkey and more than 100 people have been left injured in Portugal.
Portugal declared a state of alarm on Monday due to the wildfirey, with the risk said to be the worst in decades.
One civilian and one firefighter have suffered serious injuries, with more than 3,000 firefighters putting their lives at risk across the country overall.
One woman struggled to hold back tears as a cloud of black smoke billowed over the tiny village of Santiago de Guarda, Leiria.
Albertina Francisco, 42, who had helped her sick sister evacuate, said: ‘It was very hard. Nobody helped – the firefighters and the (water-bomber) aircraft only got here now…The state must do more to help us.’
More than 3,000 hectares have burned so far in Leiria, reports early this morning said.
Strong winds have made it difficult to fight the flames, meaning big motorways and side streets have been cordoned off to help.
Retiree Antonio Ramalheiro, 62, said: ‘It is scary when the fire comes. If it reaches the house it is a disgrace…you lose everything.’
A luxury resort where former England stars John Terry and Steven Gerrard own homes was evacuated on Wednesday in the nation’s southern Algarve region.
Videos showed flames edging close to villas, burning palm trees and parts of golf courses.
Meanwhile, in France more than 2,700 hectares have burned so far in the Gironde region.
The biggest flames are around the town of Landiras, where authorities shut roads and rushed out 500 residents.
The second fire led to around 6,000 people being evacuated from campsites along the Atlantic Coast, close to the iconic ‘Dune du Pilat’.
‘Other campers woke us up at around 4:30 in the morning. We had to leave immediately and quickly choose what to take with us’, Christelle, a tourist told BFM TV.
In south-western Turkey, a blaze erupted in an area close to the village of Mesudiye, near the Aegean Sea resort of Datca, and was moving in the direction of some homes in the area.
In Spain’s western region of Extremadura, a fire swept into Salamanca province in the region of Castile and Leon, leaving more than 4,000 hectares scorched.
One temperature dial in Seville was showing 50°C on Wednesday, although Spain’s AEMET meteorology service said the country’s highest temperature on Wednesday stood at 45.6 C in Huelva province.
It comes after the United Nations warned in April that the world is on a ‘fast track’ to climate disaster.
European Union officials cautioned last week that climate change is behind the extremely dry and hot summer.
Cayetano Torres, spokesman for Spain’s national weather forecaster, said that the ‘unusual’ heatwave and lack of rainfall in recent months has created ideal circumstances for fires.
‘These are perfect conditions for the propagation of fires, which when you add to that some wind, you have guaranteed propagation’, he said.
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