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PARIS — <\/span>Heat waves and scant rainfall in Europe have contributed to historic wildfires<\/a> in France and Spain that have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes<\/a> in one of the continent’s biggest evacuation efforts since World War II.<\/p>\n Rising temperatures later this week could complicate efforts to battle the blazes that have scorched<\/a> an area four times the size of Paris in southwestern France and are raging near Spain’s capital, Madrid.<\/p>\n Climate data shows Europe is heating faster than anywhere else on earth. The continent has already faced extreme heat events multiple times this year.<\/p>\n Firefighters in Spain have called the blazes so violent that they could not be tackled head on. But the first glimmer of hope emerged Monday in France that the spread of a giant fire in the southwestern Gironde region may have slowed.<\/p>\n Here’s what to know.<\/p>\n Europe’s above-average temperatures, with a prolonged heatwave in June, have contributed to drought conditions. Record-breaking temperatures in Western Europe compounded low rainfall levels as the extreme heat drew moisture from vegetation, creating abundant fuel that allows flames to spread faster and burn more intensely.<\/p>\n A study<\/a> released in June by World Weather Attribution found that the record-breaking heat<\/a> in recent weeks would not have been possible without climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n France’s national meteorological service M\u00e9t\u00e9o-France said June was the hottest on record there, averaging 3.8 degrees Celsius (6.8 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal, while rainfall was nearly 50% below average.<\/p>\n Spain is used to forest fires in warmer months, but climate change has made its summers hotter and drier<\/a>. That, combined with the decline in farming and industries that once used forest materials, has turned large swaths of wilderness into a tinderbox.<\/p>\n While estimates vary, national and European Union authorities are reporting fires of record scope this year. The EU\u2019s European Forest Fire Information System estimates that over 300,000 hectares (3,000 square kilometers or 1,160 square miles) have burned in France and Spain.<\/p>\n France\u2019s Interior Ministry says fires have swept across 115,000 hectares (1,150 square kilometers or 444 square miles) since January, the highest annual figure in the country\u2019s modern records.<\/p>\n Spain\u2019s Minister for the Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, said the 153,000 hectares (1,530 square kilometers or 591 square miles) burned this year is six times the amount that burned through the first half of 2025.<\/p>\n Contributing to this year’s total was Spain’s largest and third-largest fires ever in just over a week, with a blaze in the rural terrain of \u00c1vila west of Madrid<\/a> burning over 50,000 hectares (500 square kilometers or 193 square miles).<\/p>\n