L060-FRANCIA INCENDIOS ACECHAN PARIS

A wildfire tore through a historic forest near Paris on Monday (July 13), forcing highway closures and mobilising water-bombing aircraft, while Spain's death toll from one of its deadliest wildfires rose to 13, as a relentless heatwave scorched much of western Europe.

Drone views above Milly-la-Foret, 67 kilometres (41.6 miles) south of Paris showed smoke rising above a forest, not far from houses.

Western Europe is enduring its third heatwave of the summer, with tinder-dry vegetation and high temperatures fuelling blazes from the Iberian Peninsula to France. Most scientists say the fires are driven by climate change.

France deployed hundreds of firefighters to tackle a fast-moving blaze that broke out alongside a motorway near Fontainebleau, home to one of France's best-known royal palaces, which once served as a hunting lodge and autumn residence for past monarchs.

Just 70 kilometres (43.5 miles) from Paris, the Fontainebleau wildfire forced the closure of the A6 highway linking Paris with Lyon and the south. Smaller fires in the area also disrupted high-speed train services.

Some 26 million people in France were under a red heatwave warning on Monday, including the greater Paris region. Forecasters say the heatwave is expected to continue until the middle of the week.