Berlin/Paris, August 14 (QNA) - Authorities in Germany and France evacuated more than 2,300 people today as wildfires and an intense heatwave continued to affect large parts of both countries, amid warnings that drought and high temperatures could further increase the risk of fires.

In Germany, authorities ordered around 1,800 people to evacuate their homes after a wildfire in a western forested area spread toward a nearby village close to the Belgian border.

Municipal officials advised residents of the village of Gey to leave immediately and head to a relief center set up at a primary school in a neighboring village.

Authorities had announced a large-scale emergency response operation yesterday after the wildfire broke out, while firefighters and emergency teams continued efforts to bring the blaze under control.

In France, the national weather service said the severe heatwave affecting most of the country was continuing, with much of France remaining under an orange alert today and temperatures forecast to reach 40 degrees Celsius in central France and the Ile-de-France region.

The agency said the heatwave, which began on Jul. 28, had entered its 17th day, surpassing the duration of the 2003 heatwave and becoming the third-longest heatwave recorded in France.

The heatwave is expected to begin easing gradually tomorrow, Saturday, while persisting across large parts of eastern France, before becoming confined on Sunday to part of the southeast.

Wildfires are also continuing, particularly in the Landes department in southwestern France, where the affected area has expanded to around 1,100 hectares, prompting the evacuation of 525 people.

The developments come as large parts of Europe face an unusually active wildfire season amid high temperatures and successive heatwaves, after a wetter winter led to dense vegetation growth that later dried out under hot and dry conditions. (QNA)