By Janis Laizans and Emma Pinedo
BORDEAUX/MADRID, July 27 (Reuters) - Firefighters sought on Monday to take advantage of more favourable weather conditions to subdue massive wildfires threatening the French city and wine region of Bordeaux and a number of sites in neighbouring Spain.
They were racing against the clock as another heatwave is expected to hit in both countries later this week, in what has been a blisteringly hot and dry summer across Western Europe.
About 220,000 people, including tourists
and local residents, have been evacuated in France, while further south in Spain around 100,000 have been told to leave their homes or seek shelter, authorities said.
Firefighters faced an especially dangerous situation in Vall d'Uixó, in the eastern Castellon province, where the ground contains old ordnance from the Spanish Civil War that explodes when the flames reach the area, Chevi Bolumar, fire chief of the Valencian Regional Government, told public broadcaster TVE.
The French blazes, which broke out last week near the Atlantic coast, are now only 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) from entry points to the main metropolitan area of Bordeaux.
"This is a fire of a size never seen before," Jerome Steffe, mayor of Cestas, said on Monday. Cestas is one of the suburbs just outside the main Bordeaux city area.
French President Emmanuel Macron was due to visit the region later on Monday, his office said.
LOCALS SUFFER 'EMOTIONAL LOSS'
The spread of the large fires converging in central Spain slowed overnight, authorities said, but the blaze in the Castellon province raged out of control as the weather agency warned of another potential heatwave this week.
"What we're experiencing isn't a succession of isolated events. It's the most painful expression of a climate emergency that is making sixth-generation wildfires more ferocious, heatwaves more frequent, and our territory more vulnerable," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday.
The so-called sixth-generation fires are the most extreme and uncontrollable category of forest blazes, capable of generating their own weather and destroying thousands of hectares per hour. Many scientists blame such fires and heatwaves on human-driven climate change.
Maria Angeles Serrano, an evacuee in Castellon, said she was particularly upset about the impact on nature. "Material damage is one thing, but that can be repaired, so to speak. What really hurts is the emotional loss.”
HEAT SET TO BUILD AGAIN THIS WEEK
The wildfires around Bordeaux in southwestern France have delivered a shock to the regional economy, Finance Minister Roland Lescure said on Monday. The region is one of the centres of French wine production and a major centre for tourism.
"It's like a clap of thunder for an area which could have done without this," Lescure told reporters.
In central Spain, three separate fronts remained active in the mountains northwest of Madrid. Authorities estimate that a combined 77,000 hectares have burnt so far across the provinces of Madrid, Toledo and Avila. The one in Avila has been classified as the biggest wildfire in recent Spanish history.
"Today and tomorrow are absolutely crucial days in tackling this wildfire. From Wednesday onwards, weather forecasts become significantly more unfavourable for firefighting operations, but we remain confident," said Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska.
France faced a similar situation, with slightly easier conditions on Monday before temperatures rise again to as high as 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) later this week in the Bordeaux area, according to France's weather office.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the fire had not spread overnight but the danger had not passed.
"It isn't contained. I absolutely do not want to sound reassuring. That is not my intention. We must remain very focused and very determined," he said.
In both Bordeaux and Avila, July high temperatures have averaged 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit), almost 6 C above the month's normal high between 1961 and 1990, according to the Reuters Climate Monitor.
RESPONSE UNDER SCRUTINY
The scale of this summer's wildfires in Europe is putting pressure on firefighting resources and raising questions about how to respond.
Under the European Union's civil protection mechanism, Greece and Italy have each sent two Canadair water-bombing aircraft to Spain, while Portugal has deployed more than 100 military personnel and equipment.
Two more planes were due to arrive from Turkey, Spain's interior ministry said.
Switzerland is supporting France by sending two Super Puma helicopters and their crews after a request from Paris.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Dominque Vidalon, Inti Landauro, Manuel Ausloos, Elizabeth Howcroft, Yves Hermann, David Latona, Emma Pinedo, Javi West Larrinaga and Emma FargeWriting by Keith Weir, editing by Andrei Khalip and Gareth Jones)
