Thousands crowded into emergency shelters in France and Spain on Sunday after wildfires drove more than 300,000 people to flee their homes and holiday accommodation. "Today we are rather more pessimistic than we were yesterday," Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters on Saturday. In Spain, where 60,000 people were evacuated from villages west of Madrid, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the priority was "to save lives". - Tinderbox conditions -The fires in France and Spain advanced rapidly through tinderbox conditions worsened by successive heatwaves since May. Fires across France have burned nearly 98,000 hectares, a "historic record", Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said.