PARIS (AP) — Heat waves and scant rainfall in Europe have contributed to historic wildfires in France and Spain that have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes in one of the continent's biggest evacuation efforts since World War II. Advertisement AdvertisementFirefighters in Spain have called the blazes so violent that they could not be tackled head on. Spain is used to forest fires in warmer months, but climate change has made its summers hotter and drier. The EU's European Forest Fire Information System estimates that over 300,000 hectares (3,000 square kilometers or 1,160 square miles) have burned in France and Spain. "To the people of France and Spain: Europe will stand with you until the fires are out."