Wildfires sweeping through parts of Italy, France and Spain on Thursday forced thousands of people to flee blazes fanned by scorching temperatures and strong winds. Thousands of tourists on France's southern Atlantic coast have been forced out of campsites and holiday homes while Spanish authorities ordered another town near Madrid to evacuate late Thursday because of an out-of-control forest fire. Three firefighters have been killed as southern Europe endures more severe heat, with temperatures topping 40C in some areas. In Sicily, around 6,000 firefighters, forest guards and civil protection officers battled dozens of fires, some raging for several days, across the Italian island. Fires in 2022 damaged 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) of the same forest, forcing some 50,000 people to be evacuated.