French firefighters battle wildfires threatening Bordeaux

Firefighters battled to control wildfires threatening the French city of Bordeaux on Sunday, while authorities evacuated increasing numbers of people from its suburbs.

The southwestern French region has been hit by wildfires during an intense summer heatwave that has gripped many parts of Europe. Spain has declared a national emergency and a wildfire near Valencia resulted in the death of an elderly man.

"Over the course of last night, the fire was observed to have made rapid progress," the local authority in charge of the Bordeaux area said in a statement on Sunday.

The Bordeaux region is famed for its vineyards and the city is one of the main transport hubs for tourists visiting nearby holiday resorts on the Atlantic coast.

Authorities have evacuated 220,000 people from southwestern France so far after wildfires broke out earlier this week and reached Cap Ferret, a popular summer holiday destination in the Aquitaine region.

Local farmers also volunteered to help firefighters.

"We came to lend a hand because if it were our region, we'd want others to do the same. And given the scale of the disaster, we think our efforts are very welcome too," said 65-year-old farmer Pascal Roudier.

So far in July, high temperatures have averaged 32.2 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Aquitaine region, which is 7.3 C above the month's normal high between 1961 and 1990, Reuters Climate Monitor shows.

-Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Jean-Stephane Brosse, Elizabeth Howcroft, Manuel Ausloos; Editing by Alexander Smith/Reuters