Young boys prepare to dive in the Seine River south of Paris, Friday, June 19, 2026. Thibault Camus via AP

France put emergency services and military forces on wildfire alert, restricted public alcohol consumption and canceled some outdoor sports events to cope with a heat wave scorching parts of Europe.

About a third of France is under the heat red alert Sunday, when temperatures are expected to reach 104 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas. The forecast for Monday is even hotter.

National and local authorities across Europe have announced a raft of measures to minimize the risks posed by the heat. The Eiffel Tower and other Paris venues set up misting stations to cool crowds. Tourists in Rome sought relief in fountains. Spain's Basque Country canceled some sports and cultural events.

France's annual Music Day on Sunday is of particular concern. The nationwide summer solstice celebration involves thousands of concerts in village squares, rave venues and Paris clubs, bringing communities together and increasingly drawing British and other international visitors.

The French government has banned public drinking in "red alert" zones, and ordered organizers of music day events to limit alcohol use to "preserve emergency services and allow medics to concentrate on taking care of the most vulnerable."

High temperatures threaten thousands
In a region where air-conditioning isn't widespread, this kind of heat is deadly. More than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes over the last four years, and most of the fatalities were preventable, the World Health Organization's Europe office said this month. More above-average temperatures are expected this summer, which can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke.

Human-caused climate change is tied to increasing extreme weather events and U.N. climate agency projections say the next five years should shatter more heat records. A rapid study found that human-caused climate change was responsible for killing about 1,500 people in an unusually early European heat wave last month.

Authorities are notably worried about people living in the baking streets, and elderly people in nursing homes or isolated in their homes. About 15,000 older people died in France in a 2003 heat wave that became a national reckoning.

The government announced reinforced wildfire readiness and ordered tightened surveillance of water supplies to France's many nuclear reactors, and ordered 845 schools to close Monday.

Some French trains were canceled, and the national rail authority dispatched thousands of extra staff to deal with potential problems as the heat threatened rails and electrical cables.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is convening a new government heat crisis meeting Sunday, and ordered government ministers to plan for better adapting France to heat waves in the future — including "via air conditioning, if necessary."

Spain, Italy, Germany swelter
Spain kicked off the summer with large parts of the country on alert due to temperatures expected to hover around 104 degrees — even in the interior of Basque Country, a northern region that typically experiences cooler temperatures.

Authorities have suspended outdoor sports and cultural activities in the region. The heat wave is expected to scorch Spain at least through Wednesday.

In Italy, authorities expanded heat warnings — referred to locally as "red flags" — to eight cities Sunday in northern and central parts of the country. Temperatures there are ranging from the high 90s to the low 100s.

At one farm outside Milan, owners set up fans and sprinklers to keep cows cool. In Rome, tourists dunked their arms and occasionally their faces into the city's famed fountain pools.

Thunderstorms also threatened several regions.

Britain's weather office issued an "extreme heat" warning for much of southern England and parts of Wales on Monday and Tuesday, saying temperatures could exceed 95 degrees, just one degree under the record, set in 1976, for hottest June day on record.

In Germany, temperatures are soaring into mid-90s. A 23-year-old man drowned Saturday in a lake near Rheinstetten in the southwestern region of Baden-Württemberg, the German news agency dpa reported. Three other people are missing after swimming in the Rhine River, which has strong currents, a police spokeswoman told dpa.

French media reported that four children drowned Saturday.

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