Tourists have been forced to flee from hotels and villas as a ferocious wildfire bears down on a Spanish holiday hotspot.

Footage shows enormous plumes of grey smoke emerging from behind a swimming pool in Grazalema, Cádiz, where the Hotel Fuerte and several homes have been evacuated.

The fire originated at El Alamillo in the Sierra de Grazalema mountain area, where helicopters, planes, water trucks, heavy machinery, and a medical unit have been deployed to try to stop the advance of the flames.

Andalucia’s regional minister Antonio Sanz said scores of people had been evacuated as a precautionary measure with howling winds adding to a ‘complex’ battle to contain the inferno. Two roads remain closed because of the blaze: the A-372 and the CA-9123. 

It comes as an ‘unstoppable’ blaze rages in France while Europe roasts in a new heatwave, with some regions predicted to soar above 40C . 

Spain’s AEMET weather agency on Tuesday declared a top level red heat alert in three eastern regions and predicted that temperatures would rise above 40C.

Shocking footage shows enormous plumes of grey smoke emerging from behind a swimming pool in Grazalema, Cádiz, where the Hotel Fuerte and several homes have been evacuated

A fast-spreading wildfire in the Haute-Loire region of France

A wildfire burning through a forest in Cádiz

The Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia regions are predicted to be among the worst hit in a new heatwave that is hitting southern Europe this week. 

Forecasters have said it will last until at least Thursday.

The red alert signals potentially ‘very serious impacts’ on health and property.

The thermometer already reached 43C in Andalusia and Extremadura on Sunday. 

More than 10,000 people have been ordered to evacuate from the foothills of the French Pyrenees after a fire burned through at least 4,600 hectares (11,366 acres).

‘It came within 300 metres (984ft) of the houses. We were shocked by how fast it spread, it was staggering – bordering on panic,’ Patrice, from Trévillach, told the AFP news agency. 

Tour de France spectators were told to stay away from the conclusion of the third stage of the cycling race on Monday to allow access for emergency vehicles to the area.

‘An exceptional fire calls for exceptional measures for the Tour,’ said race director Christian Prudhomme. 

‘We invite the public not to come to the edge of the race or to the finish site.’

A wildfire burning in the Aspres region seen from Millas, in the Pyrenees-Orientales department, southern France on July 5

A Canadair CL-415 plane of France’s Civil Security services drops water on a wildfire at the Col des Auzines, near Trevillach, southern France, on July 5

Blazes rise from a burning building during a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, early Sunday, July 5

Some 700 firefighters were struggling to contain the out-of-control wildfires, which were blazing in five departments across France.

Twice as much land has burned so far this season compared with the same time last year.

The EU announced on Monday it was sending ⁠four waterbombing aircraft to France from Cyprus and Sweden to help firefighters around the city of Perpignan. 

‘Europe stands with France,’ the European Commission president, Ursula ⁠von der Leyen, posted.

‘We started seeing smoke around 10.30pm, then it kept coming closer and closer. Someone from the town hall knocked on our door around 1:00 am to tell us to leave,’ said Charlotte Pignol.

‘The smell of smoke was overwhelming,’ added the 30-year-old.  

Chantal Mauchet, the prefect of the Hérault department, where several fires have burned through at least 300 hectares of land, said on Monday southern France’s wildfire season had ‘essentially started three or more weeks early’.

‘Climate change is here, we are living the consequences and it is only the start of July,’ said French fire service Colonel Eric Belgioino as he appealed to people near the Pyrenees inferno to take precautions to avoid starting fires.

Firefighters work to prevent flames from advancing towards the village of Cercosa during a wildfire in Vouzela, Portugal, July 4

Thick smoke rises above Filothei settlement during a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Sunday, July 5

Firefighters work on a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Sunday, July 5

‘The season is going to be long for the soldiers fighting fires. You have to help us,’ he pleaded.

In Portugal, emergency services said they had controlled a wildfire that devastated some 13,000 hectares of forest and scrub land in a northern district. Four Portuguese regions remained on a heat alert Monday however.

Elsewhere, major fires also destroyed hundreds of hectares of forest, vineyards and scrub land on the Croatian island of Hvar and at Tale in Albania, authorities said.

Europe recorded record-breaking temperatures during a severe heatwave in June which would have been ‘virtually impossible’ without climate change, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said.

Following the two-week surge in temperatures, France said there had been more than 2,000 extra deaths than usual in just one week, while Spain and Belgium each reported more than 1,000 ‘excess’ deaths.

Regions across Portugal, Spain and France have stepped up heat alerts for the coming days. Forecasters have said the latest surge could last until the weekend.

In Greece, flames set off by a forest fire tore through two factories in Thessaloniki in the north of the country on Saturday, forcing authorities to evacuate the surrounding area and to warn households to keep their windows closed. 

Evacuation alerts were triggered for three suburbs and a facility housing 157 people with disabilities. 

Strong winds fanned the flames, and around 160 firefighters were deployed to battle the flames through the night until water-dropping aircraft could take off at dawn, the fire department said.

Oraiokastro Mayor Pandelis Tsakiris said on Greece’s state broadcaster ERT that several businesses and homes were damaged but a clearer picture would emerge after authorities conduct a full evaluation.

A 76-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of having started the blaze through negligence by generating sparks with his vehicle that set vegetation near the road alight, the fire department said. He was due to appear before a prosecutor Sunday.

The fire came days after another wildfire in a nearby area killed a 12-year-old boy and his father.

Fire department spokesman Brig. Ioannis Artopoios, speaking on ERT TV on Sunday, said that about 85 per cent of wildfires in Greece were caused by negligence, including through sparks generated through the use of agriculture machinery, discarded cigarettes and the use of outdoor barbecues. 

‘This means most of them could have been avoided,’ he said.

Greece suffers frequent, often devastating, wildfires during its hot, dry summers.

In 2018, a blaze east of Athens killed more than 100 people, while a massive fire in 2023, which tore through a remote nature reserve in northeastern Greece, was the largest wildfire recorded in the EU.

The country has increasingly turned to technology to combat the threat of fires, exacerbated by climate change. It is integrating an array of four satellites, launched into low orbit in May, that will monitor for wildfires.

So far this summer, Greece has been spared the heatwaves that have scorched much of western Europe in recent weeks. But it has still seen dozens of blazes across the country, both on the mainland and the country’s islands.

Another major wildfire broke out Sunday afternoon west of the Greek capital, Athens.

The fire department said 210 firefighters, backed up by volunteers, specialised teams and 29 aircraft, including water-dropping planes and helicopters, were deployed to battle the blaze burning through pine forest in the Mandra area. 

Authorities were racing to contain the blaze before nightfall, when aircraft can no longer perform firefighting operations.