Thousands of people have been evacuated since Monday in southeastern France to escape a rapidly-advancing wildfire.

       The evacuations in the coastal Var department took place in the hinterland, particularly around the villages of Grimaud and La M？le, near Saint Tropez.

       Twelve campsites were also evacuated, the Prefecture said.

       The fire broke out on Monday at the Sigues motorway service area, about 100km north-east of Toulon.

       By early morning on Tuesday, it had travelled 22 kilometres and burnt 5,000 hectares of forests. About 100 houses were damaged.

       Some 750 firefighters were battling the blaze overnight.

       Their ranks were swollen by a further 150 firefighters in the morning as well as 120 gendarmes sent in to secure the area.

       Four fire-fighting planes, a helicopter and two Dash aircraft, which drop fire retardant, were also deployed on Tuesday to assist them.

       The fire service said that "the conditions are unfavourable with a strong wind and high temperatures."

       The Var is among just two departments under yellow warning on Tuesday morning because of heatwave conditions.

       Several roads have been closed with the authorities urging people to not impede access for emergency services to take pictures.

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       Many Mediterranean countries have been hit by raging fires this summer which were fuelled by scorching temperatures, including Greece, Italy, Algeria, Spain, Turkey and Morocco,

       More than 100,000 hectares were scorched in Greece in what Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described as the "worst ecological disaster" in decades.