Firefighters in France have found a body as the first fatality in this season's largest wildfire was confirmed. 

A man believed to be in his 50s was discovered dead in the village of Grimaud, in the southern Var region. The local prosecutor's office has opened an investigation to determine the cause of death. 

Thousands of emergency service personnel are continuing to fight the fires in the countryside just inland from the Mediterranean Sea. Water-dropping planes and firefighting helicopters have been trying to contain the blazes.
 

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Thousands of people – both tourists and residents – have been moved to safety from holiday parks since Monday. They have been housed overnight in municipal facilities such as sports centers. 

On a visit to the region on Wednesday, government spokesman Gabriel Attal praised the mobilization of firefighters. He said that the blazes were "probably the worst that the region has experienced since 2003."

On Tuesday, France's President Emmanuel Macron toured the region and praised the courage of the emergency services. 

His summer residence is only an hour's drive from the village of Gonfaron, where emergency services have been fighting what the fire service described as a "huge" and "very fierce" blaze. 

The Var region, or département, has a long coast including the glamorous resort town of Saint-Tropez. The fire is believed to have started near a motorway service station 30km northwest of Saint-Tropez. 

The countryside that has been hit by the fires includes part of the Plaine des Maures nature reserve. 

The reserve is home to swathes of oak and chestnut forest and many species of animal, including Hermann's tortoises – Europe's last endemic land turtle. 

Large blazes have already ravaged parts of Turkey, Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, Italy and Spain this summer. 

Climate scientists warn that extreme weather and fierce fires will become increasingly common due to man-made global warming.

Cover picture: Nicolas Tucat/AFP