PARIS: A punishing heatwave broke a string of records in France and Britain on Friday as Spain battled to contain forest fires that forced hundreds from their homes.

The hot weather is in line with warnings from scientists that heatwaves will be more intense and hit earlier than usual thanks to climate change.

In Spain, forest fires burned up to 17,300 acres of land in the northwest Sierra de la Culebra region Friday, forcing some 200 people from their homes.Firefighters were battling fires in several other regions, includingwoodlandsinCataloniawhere weather conditions complicated the fight.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez praised firefighters `who risk their lives on the frontline of fires` on Friday, which is also World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.

Temperatures were above 35C Friday in most parts of the country and will top 40C in some areas.

In France, temperatures alsoclimbed Friday with one third of French departments at the highest or second-highest heat alert level. Much of the country`s southwest will see thermometers top 40C, prompting warnings for the vulnerable.

`Hospitals are at capacity, but are keeping up with demand, Health Minister Brigitte Bourguignon told reporters in Vienne, near Lyon in the southeast.

Schoolchildren have been told to stay at home in the 12 departments at alert level `red` and the health ministry activated a spe-cial heatwave hotline.

`This is the earliest heatwave ever recorded in France` since 1947, said Matthieu Sorel, a climatologist at weather authority Meteo France.

With `many monthly or even all-time temperature records likely to be beaten in several regions,` he called the unseasonable weather a `marker of climate change`.

The heatwave has spread up from north Africa through Spain, also affecting Italy and the United Kingdom.Several towns in northern Italy have announced water rationing and the Lombardy region may declare a state of emergency as a record drought threatens harvests.

The UK recorded its hottest day of the year on Friday with temperatures reaching over 30C in the early af ternoon, meteorologists said.

It was the third day in a row that temperature records had been broken in the UK, where it was over 28C on Wednesday and 29.5C on Thursday.-AFP