French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has ordered the armed forces to deploy an A400M military transport aircraft as early as Saturday to help combat fires raging in the southwest, his office said. Intense wildfires have forced more than 250,000 people to flee their homes in southwestern France and central Spain. Follow our liveblog for all the latest updates.

More than 250,000 have fled wildfires in France and Spain, authorities say Out-of-control wildfires raging in France and Spain have forced the evacuation of more than 250,000 people in total, authorities in both countries said. The French government said that 197,000 people were evacuated because of wildfires near Bordeaux, in southwest France. The Spanish interior ministry said a total of 70,000 people were evacuated from villages west of Madrid.

Both countries are facing unprecedented blazes that are spreading unchecked despite the efforts of many hundreds of firefighters backed by water-dropping aircraft. Spain evacuates 25,000 more from fire zone, total now more than 70,000 Another 25,000 people were evacuated from villages near Madrid threatened by wildfires, bringing the total who have fled to 70,000, Spain's government delegate to Madrid said. The latest evacuations took place in the Valle del Tietar area of Avila province west of the capital, as well as two villages in the Madrid region, the official, Francisco Martin, told journalists.

Another 10,000 people evacuated in Spain Spain evacuated another 10,000 people because of wildfires near Madrid, bringing the total to more than 45,000, the country's interior ministry Fernando Grande-Marlaska said Saturday. The ministry said in a statement that fires in the province of Avila near the capital forced the evacuation of seven more villages. Nearly 98,000 hectares burned in France, a 'historic record' French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said that the French fires had ravaged nearly 98,000 hectares (242,000 acres) -- a "historic record" nearly 10 times the size of the city of Paris.

"There are still a number of fires across the country that have not yet been brought under control," he said, singling out major blazes in the southwestern departments of Gironde and Landes. Scotland declares 'major' wildfire in Cairngorms national park Scottish firefighters fought on Saturday against a wildfire burning through the Cairngorms national park in the north, with the authorities advising locals to evacuate. The Scottish police have declared a "major incident" over the blaze, which has spread across some 600 hectares of the Highland park's heather and brush since being declared 10 days ago.

More than 500 firefighters have been deployed alongside helicopters to douse the flames in the Cairngorms, a mountain range west of Aberdeen which has long been a tourist attraction. After chairing a crisis meeting on Friday evening, Scottish First Minister John Swinney called the efforts to tackle the fire "a complex and difficult situation". But in a post on X on Saturday he also said "there has welcome change in wind direction overnight which has reduced the immediate threat" to the Highland village of Nethy Bridge.