People sleep on the beach as fires rage over Bormes-Les-Mimosas on Tuesday. ABACA/PA Images

Southern areas of France have been ravaged by wildfire over the past few days, as several enormous areas of countryside caught fire at once.

Tens of thousands of acres caught fire during the course of this week, as firefighters wage a running battle to keep the blazes under control.

The worst of the burning has been along France's Mediterranean coast, around the chic tourist resort of Saint-Tropez, and on the island of Corsica.

On Wednesday morning, French officials confirmed that 10,000 people had been evacuated in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of the country.

These dramatic news photographs show how the fires burned through the night, leaving little more than scorched earth behind: