Wildfires rip across Europe amid high temperatures

Spectators were banned from part of the route of the third stage of this year's Tour de France cycle race on Monday as devastating wildfires ripped across large areas of southern Europe.

Widespread blazes have become an increasingly regular summer occurrence across Europe in recent years, with Portugal, Spain, Greece and France among the first countries to be affected this year.

Monday's stage of the world's most famous cycling race, which draws enormous crowds to watch 184 riders covering more than 3,300 kilometers in 21 stages, took place near the town of Trevillach in the Pyrenees-Orientales department, where fires have left two people hospitalized in critical condition.

The stage was almost canceled altogether before the decision was made to go ahead, but huge crowds were kept away on safety grounds.

The front line of the blaze, close to the border with Spain, reportedly stretched 18 kilometers, and was only contained by the deployment of water-bombing helicopters and aircraft, and 750 firefighters using 200 vehicles, while another 300 firefighters were needed to tackle a second blaze, in the southeastern Drome department.

Spain and Italy sent reinforcements to help authorities in Portugal deal with a blaze that took more than 1,200 firefighters to bring under control, and in the northeastern region of Girona in Spain, a man was held on suspicion of using an angle grinder on the roadside, which accidentally started a blaze that saw nearly 50,000 local residents either evacuated or told to stay in their homes.

Stay-at-home messages

Similar stay-at-home messages were issued to householders in Greece's second-largest city, Thessaloniki, after a wildfire engulfed a recycling center, giving off toxic smoke. There was also a major forest fire outside the capital, Athens, as well as other blazes in Croatia and Albania.

The latest wave of extreme temperatures comes after a first wave, which is estimated to have contributed to an additional 2,000 deaths in France in just one week, with Spain and Belgium also each reporting more than 1,000 extra deaths in the same period. It is feared that the latest high temperatures will not ease off any time soon.

"Climate change is here, we are living the consequences, and it is only the start of July," said one of France's top fire officers, Eric Belgioino, as he called on the public to take steps to lessen the risk of more problems. "The season is going to be long for the soldiers fighting fires. You have to help us," he added.