Image copyright Rogaland Red Cross Image caption The Red Cross helped local officials evacuate homes around the town of Sokndal where the fires were most dangerous

Hundreds of people have had to leave their homes in Norway as emergency services try to extinguish forest fires raging in the south of the country.

Some 148 homes were evacuated around the town of Sokndal, where fires have been burning since Tuesday.

Police say the fires are still out of control and warn that heavy winds could help them to spread.

April is very early for forest fires in Norway, and experts have warned of a dramatic increase across the continent.

This month alone, wildfires have broken out in Sweden, Germany and the UK.

Fires in Europe "are way above the average" for this time of year, an official at the EU's European Forest Fire Information System (Effis) told the BBC.

"The season is drastically worse than those of the last decade."

The official added that a "very dry winter in most of Europe" and persistent drought had contributed to the rise in forest fires, and that the "long term forecast is not promising for an improvement".

'No fire control'

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Firefighters aided by helicopters worked on Wednesday to damp down the forest fires

Police in south-west Norway are still unsure what started the fires, which have burned some 7.5 sq km (2.9 square miles) of land near Sokndal, 100km (62 miles) south-east of the coastal city of Stavanger.

As well as evacuating residents, rescue services spent the night soaking land in surrounding areas in an effort to stop the fire from spreading.

But they fear that expected winds of nine to 11 metres per second could cause the fire to move into neighbouring districts.

"The wind is still a challenge and will become an even greater challenge if it increases. It's still burning heavily, and there is no fire control," said south-west police official Toralf Skarland.

Police said there had been no reports of casualties but warned people to avoid the area.

Image copyright Norway Police handout Image caption This police map highlights in red where the fire is burning, while the green section shows evacuated areas

The Red Cross, which helped with the evacuation effort, told the BBC the blaze was close to farms, huts and small villages.

Fires were also burning around the town of Lyngdal in the neighbouring area, it said.

Other wildfires

Forest fires have broken out in several parts of northern Europe this month amid hot temperatures.

Dozens of people were evacuated from their homes when a blaze broke out in southern Sweden on Tuesday, but by Wednesday morning it was under control.

In Germany, crews battled fires over the Easter weekend and Germany's weather service warned Germans on Wednesday to expect a drought this year at least as severe as in 2018 if the current dry weather continued.

"The starting conditions for vegetation in 2019 are in many areas of Germany clearly worse than last year," said agriculture meteorologist Udo Busch.

A huge wildfire broke out in Moray, Scotland this week, which officials said would "take days" to put out.

Two fires also spread across moorland in West Yorkshire.

What about southern Europe?

The spate of forest fires in northern Europe contrasts with storms and torrential rain in the south.

A woman drowned when the car she was in was swept away by a flood in Tuscany on Tuesday, and a French tourist died in storms off Sardinia earlier this week. </s> A spate of spring wildfires in Sweden and Norway sparked memories of last year's historic forest fires, as firefighters brought most of the blazes under control on Wednesday.

A total of ten fires were of a "serious nature", a Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) spokesman told AFP.

Eight helicopters were being used to fight blazes in the south that were reported to be under control on Wednesday afternoon.

"They have them under control," MSB press secretary Marcus Årskog told Swedish news agency TT.

The most severe covered 300 hectares and broke out in Hässleholm municipality in southern Sweden, forcing 49 people to evacuate.

Last year a historically hot summer set a total of 25,000 hectares of forest ablaze in Sweden, almost ten times the yearly average, according to a government study.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Sweden's historic wildfire outbreak

MSB said the exact cause of the spring fires was not known but believed them to be the result of human activity, either from barbecues or forestry machines.

The sunny and warm spring weather had also made the fire risk unusually high for the season.

"The next few days look really bad," Anneli Bergholm Söder, head of operations at MSB, told a press conference on Wednesday, adding that more humid weather was expected for the weekend which would likely improve the situation.

MSB also said Sweden was much better equipped to deal with the fires this year, having taking a number of steps to improve its capacity to respond.

Among the measures were a system with different private contractors, making up to 30 helicopters available for water bombing.

However, Brandmännens riksförbund, a union representing firefighters in Sweden, said they were hampered by a lack of workers, and that around 2,800 full and part-time firefighters were needed for them to remain fully staffed over the summer, TT reported.

In neighbouring Norway, hundreds of hectares of forest were also destroyed by fires between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Local authorities announced they had largely contained the most threatening fire, which covered some 700 hectares in Norway's south-west around Sokndal.

No injuries were reported. Some 148 homes were evacuated but all residents returned by Wednesday afternoon after 150 firefighters and six helicopters were mobilized.

Norwegian Minister of Public Safety Ingvil Smines Tybring-Gjedde told TV2 she had "learned from the lessons" of the 2018 fires and helicopters and staff would be on constant alert during the summer. </s> Wildfires in southeastern France have forced the evacuation of at least 10,000 people overnight Tuesday, officials said.

The blaze, near Borme-les-Mimosas on the Mediterranean coast, came one day after France reached out to the European Union for extra help in fighting wildfires raging through the country's arid south, Agence France-Presse reports .

The exceptional heat and dryness this summer — coinciding with the peak tourism season on the French Riviera — has increased fire risks in the region.

"It's an area that doubles or triples its population in summer," a fire official said. "The evacuations, at least 10,000, followed the progression of the fire."

Wildfires have already ravaged about 4,000 hectares (15 square miles) of land around the Mediterranean coast, the hilly interior and on the island of Corsica.

One of the fires burning in La Croix-Valmar, near the seaside resort town of Saint-Tropez, had been contained Tuesday, AFP reports quoting local officials. But 400 hectares of coastal forest were burnt by then, forcing over 200 evacuations.

Authorities have deployed more than 4,000 firefighters and soldiers to combat the flames, with the help of 19 water-bomber planes. At least 12 firefighters have suffered injuries since fires broke out on Monday, while 15 police officers have been affected by smoke inhalation. </s> MADRID (AP) - Hundreds of firefighters are struggling to contain a wildfire in northeastern Spain that has spread over 5,500 hectares (13,590 acres) and forced the evacuation of 53 residents.

A Spanish military unit with 120 specialists has joined local firefighters, who had worked overnight to control the blaze that is raging in difficult hilly terrain near the Ebro River.

Miquel Buch, the regional interior minister, said Thursday 20,000 hectares are under threat in what is the worst fire in the Catalonia region in two decades.

Buch says authorities suspect the cause of the outbreak was a deposit of improperly stored manure.

Firefighters say that high temperatures and a drop in humidity will likely fan the flames.

The burned landscape after a wildfire in Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Catalonia region of Spain has seen its biggest forest fire this year, with more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) believed to have been burned and hundreds of people evacuated.(AP Photo/Jordi Borras)

A burned farm tractor lays destroyed after a wildfire swept through Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Catalonia region of Spain has seen its biggest forest fire this year, with more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) believed to have been burned and hundreds of people evacuated. (AP Photo/Jordi Borras)

Smoke rises from the burned landscape after a wildfire in Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Catalonia region of Spain has seen its biggest forest fire this year, with more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) believed to have been burned and hundreds of people evacuated. (AP Photo/Jordi Borras)

Local villagers overlooked a burned landscape after a wildfire in Torre de l'Espanyol, near Tarragona, Spain, Thursday, June 27, 2019. The Catalonia region of Spain has seen its biggest forest fire this year, with more than 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) believed to have been burned and hundreds of people evacuated.(AP Photo/Jordi Borras) </s> Secretary of State for the Interior Jorge Gomes said 43 people burned to death, mostly trapped in their cars engulfed by flames in Leiria.

A firefighter from the Portuguese National Republican Guard works to stop a forest fire from reaching the village of Avelar, central Portugal. (Photo: AP)

Penela (Portugal): Raging forest fires in central Portugal have killed at least 57 people, most of who burnt to death in their cars, and injured scores of others, the government said Sunday.

Nearly 600 firefighters and 160 vehicles were dispatched late Saturday to tackle the blaze, which broke out in the afternoon in the municipality of Pedrogao Grande, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Coimbra, before spreading fast across several fronts.

"Unfortunately this seems to be the greatest tragedy we have seen in recent years in terms of forest fires," a visibly moved Prime Minister Antonio Costa said.

"The number of fatalities could still rise," he said at the Civil Protection headquarters near Lisbon. "The priority now is to save those people who could still be in danger."

The European Union said it would provide firefighting planes following a request from Lisbon.

"France has offered three planes through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and they will be quickly sent to assist the local emergency efforts," EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides said.

Portugal was sweltering under a severe heatwave Saturday, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in several regions. Some 60 forest fires broke out across the country during the night, with around 1,700 firefighters battling to put them out.

Secretary of State for the Interior Jorge Gomes said 43 people burned to death, mostly trapped in their cars engulfed by flames in the Leiria region. At least 59 were injured.

The flames spread "with great violence", moving out on four fronts, Gomes said. "It is difficult to say if they were fleeing the flames or were taken by surprise."

Dry thunderstorms could have been the cause of the fatal blaze, according to the prime minister.

A number of villages were affected by the main fire and evacuation procedures had been put in place for some of them, Costa added. Officials were not immediately able to comment on the extent of the damage.

Spain dispatched two water-bombing planes on Sunday morning to aid the Portuguese fire service on the ground, Costa said.

He added a period of national mourning would be announced shortly.

"My thoughts are with the victims in Portugal," EU commission head Jean-Claude Juncker tweeted. "I commend the bravery of the firefighters. EU civil protection mechanism activated & will help."

President Marcelo Rebelo went to the Leiria region to meet families of the victims, "sharing their pain in the name of all the Portuguese people," he said.

Firefighters did "all they could" when faced with the blaze, he added. Dozens of people who fled their homes were taken in by residents of the nearby municipality of Ansiao.

"There are people who arrived saying they didn't want to die in their homes, which were surrounded by flames," Ansiao resident Ricardo Tristao told reporters.

Portugal was hit by a series of fires last year which devastated more than 100,000 hectares (1,000 square kilometres) of the mainland.

Fires on the tourist island of Madeira in August killed three people, while over the course of 2016 around 40 homes were destroyed and 5,400 hectares of land burned. </s> At least 49 persons were killed during a devastating forest fire which broke out east of Athens on Monday, a senior fire brigade official said. The blaze which hit Mati, 29 km (18 miles) east of the capital, late Monday afternoon looks set to be the country's worst since flames devastated the southern Peloponnese peninsula in August 2007, killing dozens. People scrambled to the sea as the blaze closed in close to the shore. Hundreds were rescued by passing boats but others found their way blocked by smoke and flames. "I was briefed by a rescuer that he saw the shocking picture of 26 people tightly huddled in a field some 30 metres from the beach," Nikos Economopoulos, head of Greece's Red Cross, told Skai TV.

Cyprus and Spain offered assistance after Greece said it needed air and land assets from European Union partners. But the country is not the only one to be suffering from devastating wildfires. A revealing map from the European Forest Fire Information System showed the shocking extent of the fires sweeping Europe. And it seems along with Greece, Sweden and Italy have been hit hard by the recent heatwave.

Wildfires have broken out across Europe - and this wildfire map below shows exactly where the blazes have broken out in the last day. The map shows the biggest concentration of fires in Greece is centred around Kineta, to the west of Athens. While one on the east coast, near Nea Makri, is where 26 bodies were found today. More than 70 firefighters with 30 fire engines and five water-dropping helicopters battled the blaze, while some householders took up hosepipes to douse the flames which broke out near Kineta, about 54 km (35 miles) west of the city. To view the live map, click here.

Sweden is also fighting a historic amount of large wildfires as the country is experiencing its worst drought since records began. The four biggest fires, which make up 20,000 hectares, are ”impossible” to extinguish due to their magnitude according to officials. And so far, up to 500 people have been evacuated from their homes during the worst wildfires to hit Sweden since records began. "I want to make this clear: the biggest fires will not be possible to extinguish right now,” Dan Eliasson, director-general of Sweden’s Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) told Swedish Radio on Friday. </s> If you're viewing this on the ABC10 App, tap here for live video & multimedia.

Police in a Northern California city say they have been unable to locate 14 people, including a 70-year-old woman and her young great-grandchildren, amid a raging wildfire.

Redding Police Sgt. Todd Cogle said he expects most of the 14 to be safe since their homes survived the Shasta County wildfire. He says some may be having communication issues.

Cogle said he could not comment on Melody Bledsoe and 5-year-old James Roberts and 4-year-old Emily Roberts, who remain missing. He said the Shasta County Sheriff's Office is investigating.

Police have surrounded the Bledsoe property with crime scene tape.

An investigator Saturday wouldn't say if any remains had been found. The wildfire that started Monday has displaced at least 37,000 people.

The Carr Fire is now 80,906 acres and 5 percent contained, according to Cal Fire.

Officials say a deadly blaze in Northern California almost doubled in size overnight, but is moving away from populated areas.

Chris Anthony, deputy chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said Saturday the so-called Carr Fire burning in Shasta County has scorched 125 square miles (320 square kilometers).

Anthony says winds are fueling the fire but also pushing it away from Redding, a city of 90,000, and other populated areas. Thousands of people remain under evacuation orders, including the small towns of Ono and Igo.

The explosive wildfire in Northern California has killed two firefighters and destroyed 500 buildings. Another 5,000 buildings remain under threat.

REDDING, Calif. (AP) — In the small northern California community of Keswick, only a handful of homes remain.

The air is thick with the smell of smoke and chemicals. The rubble of people's lives still smoldered a day after the so-called Carr Fire moved through Shasta County like a freight train.

The flames so thoroughly ate up homes that it's difficult to tell how many once stood above the pile of ash and smoking rubble that remains.

Somewhere in there was the home of Shyla and Jason Campbell.

Jason Campbell, a firefighter, was six hours away battling a wildfire burning near Yosemite Valley when the Carr Fire moved in on his home and family.

Shyla Campbell, 32, said it was nearly 2 a.m. Thursday when she got an official alert to evacuate.

"It's huge flames, it's coming up the hill, and everyone's out and we're watching it, then it goes down, and everyone's like, 'Oh it's going out,' " she said. "And I'm like, 'No, it's going down the mountain and it's going to come back up the next ridge.' "

She was right.

The family spent the night at a hotel. When Jason Campbell returned from the blaze he was fighting on Friday, he found his own home had gone up in flames, along with an RV and a boat.

The Campbells' home of five years is among at least 500 structures that officials say were destroyed by the fire, which also swept through the historic Gold Rush town of Shasta and hit homes in Redding, a city of 92,000 about 100 miles south of the Oregon border.

"It's tough," Shyla Campbell said Friday from the city of Shasta Lake. "I just have to figure out where we're going to stay. We're just trying to stay away from the fire."

So are about 37,000 people who remain under evacuation orders Friday. Nearly 5,000 homes in the area were being threatened by the 75-square-mile (194-square-kilometer) blaze, which is just 5 percent contained.

Thousands of people scrambled to escape before the walls of flames descended from forested hills onto their neighborhoods Thursday.

Residents who gathered their belongings in haste described a chaotic and congested getaway as the embers blew up to a mile ahead of flames and the fire leaped across the wide Sacramento River and torched subdivisions in Redding.

Redding police chief Roger Moore was among those who lost their homes, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Greg and Terri Hill evacuated their Redding home of 18 years Thursday night with little more than their medications, photo albums, clothes and firearms, assuming they'd be back in a few days.

But when they returned Friday, virtually nothing was left of their home but fine particles of ash.

The remains were smoldering so hot, they couldn't get too close to see if anything survived.

"It's pretty emotional," Terri Hill said. "I know it's just stuff. A lot of memories. But we'll make new memories and get new stuff. Everybody's safe."

The Hills fled before they were told to, knowing danger was afoot when the power went out and helicopters suddenly began flying low over their home.

Liz Williams loaded up two kids in her car and then found herself locked in bumper-to-bumper traffic with neighbors trying to retreat from Lake Redding Estates.

She eventually jumped the curb onto the sidewalk and "booked it."

"I've never experienced something so terrifying in my life," she said. "I didn't know if the fire was just going to jump out behind a bush and grab me and suck me in."

The flames moved so fast that firefighters working in oven-like temperatures and bone-dry conditions had to drop efforts to battle the blaze at one point to help people escape.

The fire, which created at least two flaming tornados that toppled trees, shook firefighting equipment and busted truck windows, took "down everything in its path," said Scott McLean, a spokesman for Cal Fire, the state agency responsible for fighting wildfires.

Two firefighters were killed in the blaze, Redding fire inspector Jeremy Stoke and a bulldozer operator whose name wasn't immediately released. He was the second bulldozer operator killed in a California blaze in less than two weeks.

Fire officials warned that the blaze would probably burn deeper into urban areas before there was any hope of containing it, though it either changed direction or was stopped before it could burn into the core of the city.

Firefighters say 500 structures have been destroyed in a raging Northern California wildfire and another 5,000 are threatened.

Cal Fire released the updated figure Friday, though the number of homes burned in the so-called Carr Fire is expected to increase.

Earlier Friday, fire officials said 65 structures had been destroyed by the fast-moving blaze in Shasta County.

The blaze grew to 75 square miles (194 square kilometers) by Friday night. It began Monday with a mechanical failure of a vehicle. It grew completely out of control on Thursday, tearing through two small communities and reaching the city of Redding.

Tens of thousands of people fled the city in fear of their lives from the blaze, which has killed two firefighters.

The police chief of the Northern California city hit hard by a fast-moving wildfire is among those whose homes went up in flames.

Redding Police Chief Roger Moore told the Los Angeles Times that he and two other police officers lost their homes in Shasta County's Carr Fire.

Moore estimates at least 100 homes were destroyed overnight Thursday as the flames jumped the Sacramento River and raced into the outskirts of Redding. More than 37,000 residents have been evacuated.

The city of 92,000 is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of the Oregon border.

Moore said the family saved valuables such as photos and documents, but his wife and children are anxious and sad.

Gov. Brown sent a letter to President Trump Friday, requesting a Presidential Emergency Declaration for direct federal assistance with regards to the Carr Fire in Shasta County.

“Supplemental federal assistance is necessary to save lives and to protect property, public health and safety, and to lessen the effects of this imminent catastrophe,” Gov. Brown said in the letter.

According to the Associated Press' count, at least 125 homes have been destroyed in the Carr Fire.

A fire official says winds fanning a deadly blaze in Northern California were so strong that trees were ripped from the ground, flew in the air and landed across the street.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Chad Carroll said Friday many of those trees landed on homes.

He says that winds were so extreme Thursday that embers traveled up to a mile ahead of the flames.

Carroll says the wildfire that started Monday and has killed two firefighters is mainly burning near the city of Redding, which has about 90,000 residents.

But he says extreme winds are expected again Friday afternoon and says people in the area should be ready to evacuate.

Mandatory evacuations were extended overnight to include the city of Shasta Lake, which has about 10,000 residents.

Residents in Redding where several homes were destroyed say they had to scramble to escape the blaze.

Jim Chapin says he got home at around 7:30 p.m. Thursday and police were there telling people to evacuate the Lake Redding Estates neighborhood.

Chapin says his wife left, but he stayed behind to hose down the roof, gutters and fallen leaves.

He says that shortly afterward, the fire was burning trees behind neighbors' homes and ferocious winds whipped up branches, burning leaves, garbage-can lids, wood and other debris.

Chapin says the streets were so jammed with traffic that there was no way for firefighters to come in.

The 79-year-old returned to the neighborhood Friday and cried when he found his home still standing.

The Redding Fire Department says Fire Inspector Jeremy Stoke died battling the Carr Fire.

An official says more than 5,000 people have been evacuated and that authorities expect the Carr Fire to continue moving into urban areas.

California Governor's Office of Emergency Services spokesman Kelly Huston says they are coordinating bringing in aircrafts from the California National Guard to help fight the flames.

Officials say the extremely erratic wildfire in and around the city of Redding is growing rapidly amid scorching temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions. Temperatures are forecast to reach 110 (43 Celsius) Friday.

Huston says officials are moving emergency supplies including cots and food to four shelters set up in Shasta County.

He says the shelters are preparing for what could be a "longer-term" event.

Gov. Jerry Brown urges residents to follow all evacuations concerning the Carr Fire. CAL FIRE officials said under 5,000 structures are at risk.

"This is the new normal for us in California," said CAL FIRE division chief Chris Anthony.

REDDING, Calif. (AP) — An explosive wildfire that roared with little warning into a Northern California city claimed a second life and thousands more people abandoned their homes, some of them slipping out just ahead of the walls of flame, authorities said Friday.

In all, an estimated 37,000 people have fled from the so-called Carr Fire, which began Monday and tripled in size overnight Thursday amid scorching temperatures, low humidity and high winds. Fire officials warned that the blaze would probably burn deeper into urban areas before there was any hope of containing it.

A day earlier, the flames turned the sky orange while sweeping through the historic Gold Rush town of Shasta and nearby Keswick, then jumping the Sacramento River into Redding, a city of about 92,000 people and the largest in the region.

Steve Hobson was one of the last to leave Lake Redding Drive. A former urban and wild land firefighter three decades ago, he planned to stay behind to save his house. But the heat burned his skin, and the smoke made it hard to breathe. He could feel the fire sucking the air from the around him, whipping up swirling embers in a "fire tornado," he said.

Residents in the western part of Redding who had not been under evacuation orders were caught off guard and had to flee with little notice.

"When it hit, people were really scrambling," McLean said. "There was not much of a warning."

Many fire crews turned their focus from the flames to getting people out alive.

"Really, we're in a life-saving mode right now in Redding," said Jonathan Cox, battalion chief with Cal Fire. "We're not fighting a fire. We're trying to move people out of the path of it because it is now deadly, and it is now moving at speeds and in ways we have not seen before in this area."

Some residents drove to hotels or the homes of family members in safer parts of California, while other evacuees poured into a shelter just outside of town.

A reporter with Redding television station KRCR choked up as she reported live updates about the fire before the station had to go off the air later. Two news anchors told viewers that the building was being evacuated and urged residents to "be safe."

Journalists at the Record Searchlight newspaper tweeted about continuing to report on the fire without electricity in their newsroom, and a reporter at nearby KHSL television wrote on Twitter that the station's Redding reporters were "running home to gather their things."

Mike Mangas, a spokesman at Mercy Medical Center, said the hospital was evacuating five babies in its neonatal intensive care unit, which cares for premature newborns, and taking them to medical facilities outside of the area.

He said the hospital was preparing high-risk patients to be evacuated but there were no immediate plans to do so.

Late Thursday, crews found the body of the bulldozer operator who had been hired privately to clear vegetation in the blaze's path, McLean said. The fire burned over the operator and his equipment, making him the second bulldozer operator killed in a California blaze in less than two weeks.

Three firefighters and an unknown number of civilians had burns, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately known, McLean said.

"It's just chaotic. It's wild," he said. "There's a lot of fire, a lot of structures burning."

Firefighters tried in vain to build containment around the blaze Thursday, but flames kept jumping their lines, he said.

"It's just a heck of a fight," he said. "They're doing what they can do, and they get pushed out in a lot of cases. We're fighting the fight right now."

He said the fire behavior was so erratic, there were tornadoes within the fire "tossing around equipment, blowing windows out of Cal Fire pickup trucks."

The 45-square-mile (115-square-kilometer) fire that began Monday tripled in size overnight Thursday amid scorching temperatures, low humidity and windy conditions. It was sparked by a mechanical issue involving a vehicle, Cal Fire said.

Brett Gouvea, incident commander of the crews battling the fire, urged residents to pay close attention to the blaze.

"This fire is extremely dangerous and moving with no regard for what's in its path," he said.

Earlier in the day, with flames exploding around Whiskeytown Lake, people tried to save boats at a marina by untying them from moorings and pushing them to safety. But it wasn't swift enough to spare them all. Dozens of charred, twisted and melted boats were among the losses at Oak Bottom Marina.

"The boat docks down there — all the way out in the water — 30 to 40 boats caught fire when the fire laid down on top of them last night and burned those up," said fire Chief Mike Hebrard of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Wildfires throughout the state have burned through tinder-dry brush and forest, forced thousands to evacuate homes and caused campers to pack up their tents at the height of summer. Gov. Jerry Brown declared states of emergency for the three largest fires, which will authorize the state to rally resources to local governments.

A huge forest fire continued to grow outside Yosemite National Park. That blaze killed 36-year-old Braden Varney, a heavy equipment operator for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection whose bulldozer rolled over into a ravine July 14.

Hundreds of miles to the south, the Cranston Fire grew to 7.5 square miles (19 square kilometers) and about 3,000 residents remained under evacuation orders in Idyllwild and several neighboring communities. That fire, which destroyed five homes, is believed to have been sparked by arson.

Click here for a list of evacuation orders and additional information. </s> Firefighters and police have been injured as they battled wildfires in the French Riviera and on the island of Corsica.

Eight firefighters and some 15 police officers were hurt in the fires which broke out on Monday and consumed nearly 9,880 acres of vegetation, according to French authorities.

The French civil security authority has asked the European Union for help and to provide two Canadair planes to contain and extinguish the wildfire.

Hundreds of firefighters are currently involved in tackling the blazes.

There have been no reports of injuries among residents or tourists.

Flames burned almost 2,000 acres around the Var area of Provence, with two villas destroyed seven miles west of Saint-Tropez. A huge fire in the neighbouring Luberon region is now under control.

The Var prefecture said about 100 people had been evacuated in Ramatuelle.

The largest blaze was in northern Corsica, with nearly 5,000 acres burned.

French interior minister Gerard Collomb tweeted that he would travel to Corsica on Tuesday evening to meet emergency services.

People look on at wildfires in France. </s> Thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes in the south of France as forest fires engulfed up to 4,000 hectares across the region.

People were forced to take shelter overnight on the beach near the popular resort of Saint-Tropez.

The violent fire took hold at just before 11pm on Tuesday, officials said and 540 firefighters were sent in to the region to tackle the blaze along with four tracker planes and a fire-fighting aircraft.

Lisa Minot, travel editor of The Sun, told Good Morning Britain that more than 3,000 people had been evacuated to the beach from the campsite her and her family were staying on.

No one was being allowed back onto the campsite until firefighters had the blaze under control, she said.

"It was pretty traumatic," Ms Minot said.

The fire is the latest blaze to sweep across tinder dry southern France which is experiencing an exceptionally hot summer.

"The evacuations, at least 10,000, followed the progression of the fire. It's an area that doubles or triples its population in summer," said a fire service official of the blaze near Bormes-les-Mimosas on the Mediterranean coast.

Joan Collins, who has a home down there, appeared to be among those evacuated.

The actress tweeted: "Luckily we were able to evacuate last night, not easy with 11 people in the house! We are all okay".

She later posted a picture of a blaze saying: "Being in the middle of this was a bit of a nightmare".

At least 12 firefighters have been injured and 15 police officers affected by smoke inhalation since the fires broke out on Monday, according to the authorities.

Fires have swept along the Mediterranean coast since Monday, in the mountainous interior and on the island of Corsica.
Police evacuate 148 homes in Sokndal, Norway. Wildfires have burned through about 7.5 square kilometers (2.9 sq. miles) of land in the area. A spokesperson for the European Union Forest Fire Information System says wildfires in northern Europe "are way above the average" for this time of year.