Eight people, six of them Spanish firefighters, died in heatwave-fuelled infernos that have scorched mainly northern Mediterranean coastal areas stretching across to Turkey this week, with hundreds more livelihoods ruined.

Tens of thousands of acres (hectares) have been destroyed, with thousands of firefighters pressed into round-the-clock service and volunteers joining efforts led by specialist water-dropping planes and helicopters.

Amid the devastation, there have also been recriminations with mourners in Sardinia, where a shepherd and a rancher were killed trying to protect their animals, blaming some of the blazes on criminals and vandals.

With the stench of smoke hovering around gutted dwellings and razed woodland stretching for miles in some areas, Italian firefighters battled some 17 blazes Saturday in fierce temperatures mainly on the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, and in the southern Calabria region.

Officials said they were looking "for a drop in temperatures and other factors to help stop the fires from spreading and fanning flames", Luigi D'Angelo of Italy's civil protection force told the ANSA news agency.

Some 1,500 firefighters and volunteers are engaged in the struggle there, backed by eight Canadairs planes and 11 helicopters.

D'Angelo said hundreds of people had been evacuated from the north-eastern Sardinian village of Budoni, but stressed that the fires posed "no particular danger for people because they are in forest areas."

Investigations into what caused the fires that killed the shepherd and the rancher have found that one of the most devastating blazes on the island was deliberately set.

"Anger over such a catastrophe... is even greater when you find out there was a human hand behind the fires. It is unacceptable that in our region there are still criminal minds capable of such acts," said the head of the Sardinian region, Ugo Cappellacci, at the funeral of one of the victims.

On the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, winds hampered the efforts of firefighters trying to contain a blaze near the village of Aullene, contributing to a new evening toll of destruction running to almost 6,000 hectares.

"We are not evacuating but the fire is within 10 metres (33 feet) of the houses," said one resident, Lucienne Gaspari, who was hosing down her home like the other villagers. "The firefighters are on all fronts and the people are calm, but the fire is everywhere."

"Five Canadair will be in place on Sunday," added southern Corsican regional official Thierry Rogelet. "The weather is getting better (for us) tonight -- the winds are dropping and the temperatures won't go above 30 degrees Celsius."

The Foreign Legion officer in charge of training when tracer rounds fired by troops were said to have sparked a massive blaze outside Marseille appeared in front of a magistrate Saturday on charges of "involuntary fire-starting."

After two days in detention when he told investigators of his deep regret, the 43-year-old -- just back from Afghanistan -- was released on bail, but left contemplating potential ignominy after 23 years in the world-famous regiment.

Again in Marseille, officials identified the malicious starting of at least one new fire overnight in France's second city.

In Spain, meanwhile, most of the wildfires which have destroyed more than 17,000 hectares (42,000 acres) around the country were under control.

Likewise in Greece, although officials were still on alert as high temperatures climbing above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) risked triggering new fires.

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