Saturday marked the sixth day that strong winds and hot, dry weather hampered the efforts of French firefighters to suppress a massive wildfire raging through pine trees in the Bordeaux region.

This is one of several wildfires that have caused devastation throughout Europe this week.

Some of the deadliest flames had occurred in Portugal, where the pilot of a firefighting plane was killed on Friday when his aircraft crashed during a mission in the northeast. It was the first deadly fire in Portugal this year, although more than 160 people have been injured and hundreds have been evacuated due to the blazes this week.

This year, fire season has arrived earlier than usual in areas of Europe due to an arid, hot spring that left the land scorched and which officials ascribe to climate change.

As the deadliest fire in France approached towns, the 11,000 evacuees in the region feared for their homes.

Charles Lafourcade, who oversees the French firefighting operation, stated that firefighters were surrounding at-risk areas to save as many homes as possible.

About 3,000 firefighters supported by water-dumping aircraft are combating the fires in southern France, and Greece has sent firefighting equipment to assist.

French firefighters were able to confine one of the deadliest flames overnight near the tourist town of Arcachon on the Atlantic coast, according to the regional emergency service on Saturday.

However, "difficult meteorological conditions" hindered efforts to contain the largest fire in the region, which began in the town of Landiras, located south of a valley of Bordeaux wines. Prosecutors in the area suspect arson.

In recent days, the two fires had consumed at least 9,650 hectares.

After a week of battling blazes around the country, more than one thousand firemen in Portugal battled alongside homeowners anxious to save their homes. The fires have been fueled by severe heat and dry conditions that occurred sooner than expected.

The acreage burned this year — more than 30,000 hectares — has already surpassed the figure for 2021, according to a Friday report by the Portuguese official television station RTP. The majority of it burned during the past week.

Across the border, Spain struggled to contain multiple fires, including two that had consumed approximately 7,400 hectares.

Three thousand people were evacuated from settlements in southern Andalusia that were threatened by a fire that began near the village of Mijas in the province of Malaga. Approximately 200 firemen, assisted by 18 aircraft, attempted to contain the blaze. The government was researching its cause.

In the west-central region of Las Hurdes, firefighters have been attempting to extinguish a lightning-sparked blaze for six days. As the flames approached their homes and threatened to spread to the surrounding Monfrague National Park, over 400 residents from eight communities were evacuated to safety.

This week, Croatia and Hungary have also fought wildfires.

This month, many European countries are experiencing extreme heat, which can be attributable to climate change.

As a result of a heatwave that has held temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius in several locations, the number of deaths attributable to extreme heat has risen in Spain. According to the Carlos III Institute in Spain, which counts temperature-related deaths daily, 237 deaths were attributable to high temperatures between July 10 and July 14. There were 25 of these deaths the week prior.

The Portuguese government said that the northern town of Pinhao reached a record-high national temperature of 47 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.

The Met Office has issued its first "red warning" of excessive heat for Monday and Tuesday, when temperatures in southern England may exceed 40 degrees Celsius for the first time on record.

The British government convened an emergency reaction meeting to prepare for the extreme heat on Saturday. Schools and elderly facilities have also been instructed to take further safeguards.

Robert Vautard of the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute at the Sorbonne University in Paris stated, "All European heatwaves studied to date are becoming hotter."

As long as greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced to zero, heatwaves will continue to increase in intensity, frequency, and duration.

Local media reported flames in the western province of Izmir and Hatay, located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Syrian border, in Turkey, where severe wildfires occurred last summer. Hundreds of aircraft, helicopters, and firefighters fought the fires.

Last year, fires fueled by high winds and scorching temperatures tore over Turkey's Mediterranean and Aegean areas, killing at least eight people and drawing harsh condemnation for the government's lack of planning and reaction.