ILLE-SUR-TÊT, France — Wildfires raged across southern Europe on Monday, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes and prompting officials to ban spectators from a stage of the storied Tour de France cycling race.

Hundreds of firefighters are battling blazes that have devastated more than 19,000 hectares (42,000 acres) of land — an area more than twice the size of Manhattan — across Portugal, Spain, France and Greece.

And temperatures are on the rise again, predicted to reach 40°C in parts of a region still suffering the aftermath of a recent record-breaking heatwave.

In southwestern France near the city of Perpignan, 700 firefighters backed by special aircraft battled to control a “gigantic” blaze spreading in a hard-to-reach remote area, with more than 10,000 local residents evacuated.

Fanned by wind, intense heat and exceptionally dry air, the fire has nearly tripled in size since early Sunday, devouring 4,600 hectares and leaving a firefighter and a resident injured, local authorities said.

“The fire came within 300 meters of the houses. We were taken aback by how fast it spread; it was staggering — bordering on panic,” said Patrice, a 53-year-old resident of the village of Trevillach, who did not wish to give his surname.

“We started seeing smoke around 10:30 pm, then it kept coming closer and closer. Someone from the town hall knocked on our door around 1 a.m. to tell us to leave,” said Charlotte Pignol, 30, who was among the first to be evacuated from her home early on Sunday.

The blazes come shortly after a heatwave in June, one of Europe’s worst, during........

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