For a second night thousands of people in the Var region of southeast France had to bed down in makeshift accommodation, after major fires forced them from their properties, hotels and campsites.

The Williams family from Britain was among them.

Dad Ollie, his wife, four-year-old daughter and in-laws tried to get some sleep on mattresses on the floor of a sports hall in Le Lavandou.

It was an improvement on the night before when they got no sleep at all, watching flames on the hillsides around them from a beach.

Image: Families were evacuated from their campsites for two nights. Pic: Ollie Williams

"I was woken by my wife at 2am in the morning to say there is a fire," Ollie told us when we met up with him. "The neighbours were screaming that we needed to get out.


"Seeing the glow over the hill in the background, it was pretty surreal. We had to get moving quickly. We moved to the relative safety of the beach".

By mid-morning the family returned to the Camp du Domaine Campsite in Bormes-les-Mimosas for a wash, a change of clothes and to try to get some sleep.

But any hopes of relaxing from his deputy head teacher duties on a summer break were abruptly halted again for Mr Williams.

:: French fires force evacuation of 12,000 people

He told us: "At 10.30 we headed back to the campsite, and just as I was getting my head down for 30 minutes my wife woke me and that's when the full evacuation began.

"We had to repack and we had to head into the town. We could see droves of people doing the same".

Image: Flames and smoke fill the sky above a burning hillside as tourists swim on the beach in Bormes-les-Mimosas, in the Var department

Those droves spread out to evacuation centres across the region last night. Tourists and locals ended up hunkered down together.

Some were offered beds in homes in the area. All were hoping that by daylight the fires would have retreated.

"We are all tired," Mr Williams said. "There is a huge air of uncertainty about what we will be heading back to once we can return to the campsite."

Mr Williams had spent hours yesterday watching the battle to contain the fires, which had spread thanks to strong winds in the area.

Instead of reading books on the beach people were looking to the skies as the fire-fighting planes roared overhead, going back and forth scooping up water from the ocean and dumping it on the blazes.

Image: A plane works to extinguish a wildfire in Bormes les Mimosas, France

Tourists did carry on with their holidays, swimming and sunbathing against the backdrop of the ongoing battle to stop the fires.

But on a visit to the region last night France's Prime Minister Edouard Philippe warned: "There will be more fires tomorrow."

He had come to thank the thousands of emergency workers who have been deployed since the fires started spreading along the coast on Monday.

"The situation remains difficult," he told people. "I must say it. Like me, you feel the wind is blowing."

You certainly notice the wind at the moment in this part of France. It is feeding the flames, allowing the fires to spread quickly.

Progress in tackling the blazes has been made overnight but there is no air of complacency from the experts or visitors.

Image: Fire spreads through French Riviera

Mr Williams and his family are hoping for a few relaxing days before heading back to the UK, but he is philosophical saying safety has to come first.

And for a man who has had much of his holiday upended so far he remains upbeat and full of praise for the local authorities.

"For such a large scale evacuation of people who are nervous and anxious, it has gone particularly well," he said.

He'd just prefer not to go through it again today.