Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Scientists say that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness in parts of Europe, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.

So far, sparsely populated areas have been hardest hit, but thousands of residents have already been evacuated.

In neighbouring Portugal, where fires are also blazing, another firefighter was killed on Sunday in a "tragic" traffic accident, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said. Fires have also broken out in Greece, France, Turkey and the Balkans as a heatwave has scorched swathes of southern Europe.