MORE than 250,000 people have now been forced to evacuate their homes in south-west France as a wildfire continues to rage out of control.

Another 55,000 were evacuated in the early hours of Sunday as flames crept ever closer to the city of Bordeaux, while neighbouring Spain oversaw its own evacuation orders on the country’s east coast.

Authorities in the Gironde region, where Bordeaux is located, issued evacuation orders for five more localities south-west of the city.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the situation remains “very unfavourable.”

Gusting winds fed the flames overnight on Sunday, accelerating the spread of the monster blaze that has burned out of control since midweek, the Gironde prefecture said.

“The fire again became extremely virulent again and unpredictable, generating its own winds and advancing erratically toward the Bordeaux metropolitan area,” Mr Nunez, the interior minister, posted on social media.

The area that has burned, much of it pine forests and scrubland made tinder-dry by successive heat waves this year, has grown to an estimated 162 square miles, the Gironde prefecture said.

Firefighters and soldiers are battling to slow the flames’ progression toward Bordeaux, both on the ground and in the air, with planes dropping water and retardants.

Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave described the fire as being “at the gates of the metropolitan area,” having advanced to about nine miles from the city at its closest point.

A second fire burning farther south in the Landes region has also forced the evacuation of 30,000 people this week, taking the total driven out of their homes in the south-west to more than 250,000.

In Spain, authorities oversaw a new round of evacuations due to wildfires in the Valencia region. Uncontrolled blazes there and others west of Madrid this week have forced 116,000 people to evacuate their homes.