At least two people have been arrested on suspicion of starting a fire that led to raging wildfires in a town south of Paris.
The blaze started in the Fontainebleu forest on Sunday with a second fire reported the next day.
It is being investigated as potentially deliberate after multiple starting points were identified within a small radius.
At least 900 people were forced to evacuate their homes as over 1,300 hectares (3,212 acres) of land was left scorched.
“It is not under control,” French interior minister Laurent Nunez said late on Monday.
He explained that 59 people have been arrested across France on suspicion of starting fires across the country as it recovers from a brutal heatwave. Around half were adults and half minors, with some repeat offenders, he said.
Dramatic footage shows a Canadair water-dumping plane being used to scoop water from the River Seine in an effort to put out the fierce blaze.
An investigation is underway to determine the exact circumstances of the incident, as Mr Nunez told reporters on Monday: “There were around ten points where the fire started within a 1,000-metre radius, which suggests it may have been started deliberately.”
French authorities estimate that around 32,000 hectares of land has been burned so far this year.
The wildfires have claimed the lives of at least 13 people so far, mostly foreign nationals according to authorities.
It has forced the closure of the A6 highway linking the capital with Lyon and the south, just 70km (40 miles) from Paris. Smaller fires in the area have also disrupted high-speed train services.
In Spain, where wildfires have also ravaged the landscape, Malcolm Timbrell, 70, told the BBC about the terrifying experience of seeing his home being burnt to the ground. His wife and 12 friends and neighbours are feared to have been killed.
"You'd never imagine it could happen," he said. "And when it does, and you're the only survivor, then you're left in a situation of, 'What can I do?'"
Mr Timbrell and his wife of 17 years, Annettee Kilgore, 69, lived in the village of Bédar, in Almeria province, and found their home on Channel 4’s A Place in the Sun.
"She was such a happy, outgoing person. We have had an amazing life together - and now it's stopped."
Scientists have warned that the climate crisis, caused in part by the burning of fossil fuels, is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heatwaves, making certain regions more vulnerable to wildfires.
