A searing heatwave sweeping southern Europe has ignited dozens of wildfires, closing Italy’s Mount Vesuvius to visitors and forcing mass evacuations across Spain. Italian authorities said all hiking trails on Vesuvius were shut after flames tore through roughly 500–600 hectares of forest on the volcano’s slopes. Twelve fire-service teams, six Canadair water-bombing planes and army engineers have been working since Friday to contain the blaze and protect nearby vineyards and farms. Spain is facing the region’s most acute emergency. Regional officials confirmed that a man died from severe burns in Tres Cantos, a suburb north of Madrid, after winds of up to 70 km/h drove flames toward residential areas. The fire was brought under control on Tuesday, but not before 180 residents were moved to safety. Farther south, about 2,000 tourists and locals were evacuated from beaches and hotels around Tarifa, while in the north-west roughly 3,780 people left their homes in León province and more than 600 in Zamora as 32 simultaneous fires raged in Castile-and-León. One of the blazes has reached Las Médulas, a UNESCO World Heritage site of ancient Roman gold mines. Heat alerts remain in force across Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Balkans, with meteorological agencies warning of temperatures above 40 °C and overnight lows staying above 25 °C. Scientists say hotter, drier summers linked to climate change are lengthening Europe’s fire season and increasing the risk of extreme events such as the ‘fire whirls’ reported in northern Spain. Almost 1,000 members of Spain’s armed forces have joined local crews, while aircraft from neighbouring nations are backing operations in Portugal, Albania and Montenegro. Officials across the Mediterranean are urging residents and tourists to avoid high-risk areas and to follow evacuation orders promptly as the heatwave is forecast to persist through the week.