First wildfire death in Spain as blazes ravage Europe - with 270,000 people forced from their homes and France sends in the military

A man has been the first victim to die from the wildfires ravaging Spain and France as more than 270,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.The man was found in a car in a ravine in the Spanish town of Manises near Valencia following a forest fire in the area, according to the local fire brigade. Spain's capital is being deluged in smoke and ash by huge wildfires to the west, which has led the country to declare a national emergency and the Prime Minister to warn of 'complex hours ahead'. As two blazes in Spain risk merging amid tricky firefighting conditions today, France has called in the military.France is set to roll out 'an unprecedentedly large-scale response' as raging infernos across the southwestern region have even seen some evacuate on boats.Some 500 French military personnel had been deployed yesterday to help combat the blazes and now a further 1,500 will be sent in tonight.The move comes after a 'crisis meeting', which was held at the armed forces headquarters in Paris earlier today. French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said a hulking A400M military transport aircraft will join 18 other water- and retardant-dropping planes and helicopters waging an expected 'long and very difficult' battle against the blaze in the Gironde. The roots of a tree burn during a wildfire on Saturday in El Tiemblo, Spain as thousands were forced to evacuate their homes Dramatic pictures released by French authorities show an intense wildfire burning in Biscarrosse, southern France, on Saturday morning A picture taken from the French Civil Security rescue coordination helicopter shows the Airbus A400M making its first-ever drop over the wildfire near Lacanau The remains of a building damaged by a wildfire stand at Le Porge, France Cars damaged by a wildfire sit near a road at Le PorgeForeign Secretary Ed Miliband said: 'My thoughts are with everyone affected by the wildfires in Europe.'I am in touch with my French and Spanish counterparts about the situation.'British nationals should follow the advice of local authorities in the area, alongside FCDO travel advice.'With winds expected to shift in a west-to-east direction on Saturday afternoon, potentially driving the fire closer to Bordeaux, fire crews and authorities were digging trenches, using retardants and taking other steps to block it, Nunez said. He said the fire was about 30 kilometers west of the city and lost some of its intensity overnight.The government mobilised soldiers to join the battle and was rushing in 1.5 million face masks to protect against choking smoke.Authorities ordered people between the fire and Bordeaux to evacuate, including from parts of the city's western suburbs and other towns and villages.Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu described the fires as unprecedented and said the Gironde blaze became so strong on Friday that it had begun generating its own winds.'Our priority is clear: protecting human lives,' he posted on X, adding that evacuation orders 'must be respected without delay.'He said firefighting teams were being reinforced on Saturday with the addition of hundreds of soldiers.In tests, the French military transport aircraft carried and dropped 20 tons of water, around three times the capacity of widely used Canadair water-bombing planes.Some 197,000 people have been evacuated from south-west France amid a blaze approaching Bordeaux, with the 'unprecedented' blaze leading to a rare pyrocumulonimbus - a thunderstorm caused by a large fire - on Friday, which has never been seen in the country before.While in Spain, the figure has hit at least 70,000 with another 20,000 told to remain indoors.A blaze nearing the capital is 'at its peak' and is at risk of merging with a second today, something government official Nicanor Sen Velez said would be 'very bad news'.Meanwhile Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the priority was 'to save lives' as he visited the fire zone.The country has declared a national emergency and Sanchez warned of 'complex hours ahead'. An airplane deployed to extinguish wildfires flies over the fire in La Vall d'Uixo, Spain Tens of thousands of people were evacuated due to the fires across Spain, according to the interior ministry At least 70,000 have evacuated Spain with another 20,000 told to remain indoors A firefighters' truck drives through a forest near Lacanau, southwestern France A firefighter uses a hose to spray water during a wildfire at Le Porge amongst worsening drought conditions A French Civil Security rescue coordination helicopter flies, as a wildfire burns near Lacanau A local volunteer hits flames to combat a wildfire near houses in the Valdesanmartin neighborhood of El Tiemblo A firefighter helicopter drops water over a fire near houses during a wildfire in Valdesanmartin A firefighter targets water onto a blaze in south-west France late on Friday Spanish firefighters hoped to get control of wildfires raging near Madrid on Saturday but an official warned that erratic winds threatened to fan the blazes furtherThe sky over Madrid was covered by a haze of brown-grey smoke and thick black ash coated roof terraces in the centre north of the city. The municipality of Villaviciosa has opened its public facilities to shelter and assist hundreds of evacuees, with many bringing what little belongings they could grab and scooping up their pets.In Hall 3 of the Parc Des Expositions De Bordeaux in France, around 1,000 camp beds had been made available, all of which were snapped up by 4am this morning. At least 5,000 people were crammed into the stuffy hall by 8am, some of whom had arrived seven hours earlier.The virulence of the French and Spanish wildfires, fueled by high temperatures and the long-term effects of climate change, caught fire crews and authorities off guard. Firefighters in Spain said the blazes spread so fast and violently that they could not be tackled head on. In France, some people even fled by boat when flames swept through touristic towns on the Atlantic coast.'We've never seen anything like this,' said Javier Organista, a resident of El Tiemblo, west of Madrid, where fire charred a famed chestnut grove. 'When we saw the flames coming into our town, surrounding us, leaving us with practically no way out, all the neighbors joined together to try to stop its advance... It's just really sad,' he said.A British restaurant owner in Bordeaux said the city is 'full of smoke and ash' and residents are wearing masks if they go outside.Lance Attwood, 58, who owns Sweeney Todd's in Bordeaux city centre, told the Press Association: 'It's not really conducive to coming out.'The town is full of smoke and ash, so there's a big drop in business, people are just walking around town in masks.'Our biggest concern is people's safety and the safety of the emergency services.'Mr Attwood, who has lived in Bordeaux for 25 years, said friends who had been evacuated were focusing on recovering sentimental belongings and finding alternative living arrangements.He encouraged people to donate dry food with a long shelf-life to local charities to help those affected.As the French fire arrives just 12 miles from Bordeaux, the European Union has been drafted in to help and is deploying seven planes to the two countries to help firefighting efforts. Visitors bathe and sit on the sand of the partially dry Loire riverbed with sandbanks stretching far out The municipality of Villaviciosa has opened its public facilities to shelter and assist hundreds of evacuees, with many bringing what little belongings they could grab and scooping up their pets Local residents rest at the Parc des Expositions de Bordeaux after being evacuated due to wildfires in the region Firefighters spray water in a burned forest near Lacanau, southwestern France A volunteer firefighter combats a wildfire in ValdesanmartinThousands of people were evacuated from suburbs near Bordeaux on Saturday as wildfires in areas around the city showed no signs of abating.Local official Sophie Brocas said the areas of Le Haillan, Eysines and Merignac were being fully cleared of residents. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said 197,000 people had so far been evacuated from the Gironde and Landes regions with motorists also advised to avoid the region. Tomorrow's final stage of the Tour de France has been shortened due to the fires, and will now only be 89km instead of the planned 133km. Security forces will now be redeployed from the route to the fires instead.The fire has so far ravaged 40,000 hectares of land, and 1,500 soldiers are being deployed to assist firefighters.'The fires that are hitting our country have reached a level that has never been seen before,' Lecornu wrote on X on Saturday. So far this month, temperatures have averaged 32.2 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) across the broader Aquitaine region, which is 7.3C (13.1F) above the normal high for July between 1961 and 1990.Mass evacuations have been taking place throughout the day – including by boat – from Cap Ferret in southwestern France, some 40 miles from Bordeaux, where wildfires have burnt through thousands of hectares of forest and destroyed luxury villas.