France's largest wildfire for 75 years, which has burned through an area larger than Paris, has slowed overnight but is not yet under control, officials have said. More than 2,000 firefighters and 500 firefighting vehicles continue to be deployed to the Aude region, alongside gendarmerie and army personnel, officials said on Thursday.

A massive wildfire that has scorched through 16,000 hectares of forest and villages in southern France since Tuesday was spreading more slowly on Thursday but was still not under control, officials said.

More than 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes after a wildfire broke out in the popular beach town of Tarifa, in the Andalusian region of southern Spain. A forest fire has also raged in southern France, the biggest blaze the country has experienced 'in decades'.