Local and visitors tell the BBC of disbelief and anxiety as wildfires force more than 300,000 people to evacuate.

There is an ecological disaster, a human disaster, families have lost their homes because of the fire, and then there is an economic disaster,” one vineyard owner told NBC News.

By Lefteris Papadimas, Yves Herman and Emma Pinedo ATHENS/MADRID, July 31 (Reuters) - Greece battled wildfires on the outskirts of Athens and on the island of Crete on Friday, while France and Spain won some respite after bringing major blazes under control.

Two firefighters died in a blaze on the Greek island of Crete Wednesday while crews in France confronted a wildfire four times the size of Paris, officials said.

The Tour de France Femmes begins in Lausanne, Switzerland on Saturday, with its first ascent of Mont Ventoux to come.

The fires are behaving in ways not seen before in France, including the formation of the country's first-ever reported pyrocumulonimbus.