Over 166,000 people were evacuated in France and Spain as unprecedented forest fires raged near Madrid and Bordeaux, a French city flanked by tourist havens and world-renowned vineyards.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday asked the army to mobilize to help contain the worst wildfire the country has ever seen after seeking European Union help, as a local official warned the blaze was heading toward Bordeaux.

Some 44,000 people fled the up-market Cap Ferret peninsula south of Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast, with the only road threatened by flames.