FRENCH authorities ordered nearly 4,000 more people to evacuate today from tourist sites on the Atlantic coast as returning heat threatened firefighters’ hold on a vast wildfire west of Bordeaux.

The blaze in the Gironde region has burned an area four times the size of Paris and forced 220,000 people to evacuate. 

Across France and Spain, roughly 330,000 people have been driven from homes and vacation sites by fires of exceptional scale.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said Saturday it was “very likely” the largest civilian evacuation operation ever carried out in France outside of war. 

Today, firefighters held the Gironde blaze in check through a calm night, keeping the burned area unchanged at 420 square kilometres. 

Authorities called the fire stabilised, not fixed — held for now, but still capable of breaking loose.

National Federation of Firefighters of France spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Eric Brocardi said France is facing wildfires of “exceptional intensity.” 

Paying tribute to four firefighters who have died, he said: “The fire is big. It’s like David against Goliath. We are little but we have a good strategy.

“We are at a point of fragility. We will continue attacking this fire despite the forecast rise in temperatures.”

More than 1,160 square kilometres have burned across France this year. 

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, heating at more than twice the global average.

In Le Porge alone, about 150 homes were destroyed. Ninety-three firefighters have been injured.

In Landes, about 15,000 evacuees were allowed home after a separate wildfire stopped advancing. 

President Emmanuel Macron said the fire was “fixed,” though authorities warned it was not extinguished.

Meanwhile, hundreds of firefighters continued battling several major wildfires in Spain, with smoke from blazes reaching Madrid.

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said nonstop work left him “reasonably positive,” though officials warned crews had only a brief window before extreme heat returned.

Spain’s national weather service said the country was bracing for its fourth heat wave of the summer, with temperatures expected to exceed 40°C. 

Authorities have evacuated about 79,000 people and ordered another 30,000 to remain in their homes.

A fire in Avila has become Spain’s largest on record, scorching more than 500 square kilometres. 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called for a national pact to fight wildfires, saying climate change is making them worse.