Wildfires swept across parts of Italy, France and Spain, killing three firefighters and forcing thousands to flee as scorching temperatures and strong winds fuelled the blazes.

The fires came on Wednesday as southern Europe endures another spell of severe heat, with temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius in some areas.

In Sicily, around 6,000 firefighters, forest guards and civil protection officials battled dozens of fires that have raged for days across the Mediterranean island.

Regional president Renato Schifani said about 50 fires were still burning despite the deployment of water-bombing aircraft while Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said a firefighter died after falling ill while battling the flames.

More than 160 fires have also been recorded in the neighbouring Calabria region which the head of local civil protection said were deliberate cases of arson by "malicious individuals" who had among other things tied rags soaked in flammable liquid to the tails of stray cats to spread fires.

In France, two firefighters died on Tuesday tackling a blaze that broke out in Le Porge area near Bordeaux airport.

France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez met the firefighters' families on Wednesday, as unions warned workers were facing "exhaustion" and a lack of resources.

Two raging fires displaced thousands of people in the country's southwest and one ravaged around 2,000 hectares in the picturesque Arcachon Basin region near Bordeaux.

"We're dealing with a very dense stand of closely packed pines," firefighter Captain Wilfried Schneider said, describing a fire of "rare" intensity.

A blaze that raced through wooded hills in another part of southern France, forcing some 400 from homes and devouring 2,550 hectares, was being contained earlier on Wednesday, officials said.

Nearly 1,000 firefighters and specialised water aircraft battled to contain the blaze in the region that lies along France's Mediterranean coast between the cities of Marseille and Nice.

In total, 12,000 people have been evacuated in southwest France and the Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas has called for hundreds more to leave.

In Spain, authorities ordered the evacuation of several districts on Wednesday around the city of Toledo, south of Madrid, after a major wildfire threatened homes.

The new blaze spread as hundreds of firefighters battled a major wildfire that has devastated 32,000 hectares about 100 kilometres north of Madrid. (AFP)




Edited by Tony Sabine