Barcelona is handing out water and caps to homeless people and France has recorded its highest ever overnight temperature, as firefighters in Greece grapple with major wildfires in a brutal European heatwave that has pushed temperatures past 43C in some locations. On Wednesday night, after the daytime temperature reached 38.9 degrees Celsius, which broke a record of 37.4 C that was set in 2010, temperatures were almost 30 C at Barcelona's time zone. The humidity is also very high, and adds to the sensation of suffocating heat.  3,600 vulnerable people have received SMS informing them of the precautions they should take against heat, and that they should be directed to their closest climate sanctuary in airconditioned areas with drinking fountains. The city has also launched an emergency plan to water its 310,000 trees after a palm tree fell and killed a young woman this month.  Since June, Spain has suffered from four consecutive days of heat and temperatures are expected to exceed 40 degrees across the country on Thursday. Except for the southeast, there is a forecast of cold weather this weekend. Not even the normally mild northern regions were spared, with 40C or more being recorded in Basque Country and Canary Islands. When the temperature hit 43 C in Bilbao, several people were admitted to a hospital with heat related problems.  All Spain has been on a high alert for fires due to the combination of heat and drought. Now mostly under control, the largest this year, on Tenerife, consumed 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) of woodland. On Thursday, the regional president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said that for the first time in more than a week, the fire did not gain a single square metre. In the northwest of Spain, small fires broke out in Castilla y Len and a large number of public parks and nature reserves have been closed. More about  Weather