French firefighters on Wednesday were battling to control the country's biggest wildfire in almost 80 years, with the blaze in the southern Aude region having already swept through an area larger than Paris.

One person died in the village of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, about 30 kilometres from the city of Perpignan, the prefecture said. The fire, which spread very rapidly through forests and villages, has burned down at least 25 houses, forcing residents and tourists to flee. Many roads are closed.

"It's a catastrophe of unprecedented scale," Prime Minister François Bayrou said as he visited Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.

So far, more than 15,000 hectares have burned. That is similar to the total area that burned across all of France in several of the past years, Interior Minister

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