Authorities ordered residents in surrounding neighborhoods to leave their homes after a wildfire broke out in the Fontainebleau forest about 42 miles from Paris, adding to a pattern of deadly blazes hitting western Europe under extreme heat, according to The Associated Press.
Paul Laurain, a spokesperson for the regional fire service, told France-Info that the response included hundreds of firefighters and two aircraft capable of dropping water on the flames. Rail disruptions affecting service through Paris's Gare de Lyon station, which began late Sunday, had mostly cleared by Monday morning. Authorities also shut a stretch of the A6 highway to the southeast of the city due to the threat posed by the fire.
Well known for drawing tourists from the capital and beyond, the forest is also the site of the Fontainebleau Chateau, a palace with strong ties to Napoleon, according to The Associated Press.
A fire that tore through a remote expatriate enclave in southern Spain last week left 13 dead, and as of Monday, 10 more people had not been located. Before being declared contained on Sunday, the fire burned through roughly 70 square kilometers of forest and farmland, an area exceeding the size of Manhattan. Pedro Sánchez, Spain's prime minister, had plans to tour the affected area on Monday.
Fires also burned across England and Wales. A wildfire that ignited across a mountainside in north Wales on Sunday led officials to evacuate scores of people from rural properties in the area. According to the Met Office, a string of heat waves beginning in May has made 2026 the only year in recorded history to see temperatures reach 35 C (95 F) or above across three separate months.
Data from the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, as cited by The Associated Press, show that since the 1980s Europe has warmed at double the global average rate, making it the fastest-warming continent on Earth.