BORDEAUX, France (AFP)—Unchecked wildfires raging Saturday in France’s southwest and near Spain’s capital Madrid have forced nearly 260,000 people to flee and prompted Paris to deploy its military.

France hustled 197,000 people from areas around Bordeaux — including vacation spots crowded this time of year — in what was “probably” the biggest peacetime evacuation the country has seen, its interior minister said.

In Spain, where 60,000 people were evacuated from villages west of Madrid, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the priority was “to save lives” as he visited the fire zone. Officials in Madrid had earlier given a higher estimate of around 70,000 people evacuated.