Wildfires of 'Exceptional Scale' Rage Near Paris as Death Toll Mounts in Spain

A blaze in the Fontainebleau forest forced evacuations and highway closures, while a British couple returned to the Spanish village devastated by last week's deadly fire.

French officials scrambled firefighting planes to the outskirts of Paris on Sunday after a wildfire of "exceptional scale" erupted in the Fontainebleau forest, about 60 kilometers southeast of the capital, the Guardian reported.

The fire, described by officials as "very virulent," began in the late afternoon in the former royal hunting preserve and had burned more than 800 hectares by early Monday, still spreading, according to the Guardian. The blaze forced the evacuation of villages, prompted the partial closure of the A6 highway — France's main north-south artery — and disrupted high-speed rail service during a heatwave-stricken holiday weekend.

The BBC reported it was the first time firefighting planes had been dispatched from the normally drier and hotter south of France to battle fires in the Paris region.

The emergency came days after a wildfire killed at least 13 people, including five believed to be Britons, in Spain's Almeria province, the BBC reported. A British couple has since returned to the village at the heart of that blaze.

— Compiled from reporting by the Guardian and the BBC.