France battles wildfires as heatwave grips Europe | Watch

Firefighters have been battling several wildfires in France as a southern city in the country grappled with a heatwave.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said three separate wildfires, two of them burning along the western outskirts of the Mediterranean city of Marseille, had devastated approximately 1,210 hectares (2,990 acres) of land.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu visited the affected areas to hold a crisis meeting on the heatwave and wildfires, just as a new blaze erupted near the city of Roquemaure in the Gard area.

Last week, the World Meteorological Organisation cautioned that the prolonged spell of record-breaking heat across Western Europe in late June had significantly increased the likelihood of wildfires. The agency attributed the elevated risk to persistent high temperatures, extremely low humidity, and parched vegetation.

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The most extensive blaze was reported in France's Aude department, close to the Spanish border, where around 900 hectares had already been consumed by the flames. Officials said strong winds were hampering efforts by roughly 800 firefighters working to contain the wildfire.

"Our main concern is the industrial zone, where many industrial buildings are located. Some contain potentially polluting substances and ​flammable materials," Pierre Regnault de la Mothe, the top official in ​the Pyrenees-Orientales ⁠department, told reporters.

To the east, the fire in the Aude scorched some 900 hectares as winds reaching 70 kilometres per hour complicated the efforts of nearly 700 firefighters.

Health ⁠authorities estimate ​the previous heatwave may have caused at least 1,000 ​excess deaths in the country during record-breaking temperatures.

Meanwhile, in Fréjus, a resort town in the Var department, 35 kilometres from Cannes, over 2,000 people were evacuated from six campsites due to the forest fires.

France's national weather agency has warned that the country could face another bout of intense heat as early as next week. Officials also estimate that the previous record-breaking heatwave resulted in more than 1,000 excess deaths nationwide.