Hundreds of people have been evacuated and several people left injured after a wildfire enveloped a popular tourist town in Croatia.

The fire is driven by strong winds around Omis, threatening homes and vehicles, local media reported.

Flames enveloped settlements and trees and turned the night sky red above Omis, a scenic town on Croatia's prized Dalmatian coast surrounded by trees and rocky hills.

Around 19 people have been treated by ambulance services, N1 reported. Two with serious injuries were transferred to a hospital in the city of Split, about 25 km (15.5 miles) to the north, regional governor Blazenko Boban said. "We have had an extremely difficult night, we have a complicated situation in the area from Lokva Rogoznica to Omis," Chief Fire Commander Slavko Tucaković told local outlets.

A total of 157 firefighters and 44 fire vehicles battled the blaze through the night, while additional reinforcements from several Croatian counties were deployed to the area. A stretch of a major coastal highway in the area was shut.

The town opened its sports hall as an emergency shelter, where around 1,000 people were accommodated overnight.

A navy boat was in place to offer evacuations by sea, local media said.

Elsewhere, authorities in Germany ordered about 1,800 people to evacuate their homes in the early hours of Friday, after a wildfire in the western region spread towards a village close to the border with Belgium.

Residents should leave the village of Gey at once and go to an assistance centre set up at a primary school in the nearby village of Strass, municipality officials said in a statement at 4 a.m. (0200 GMT)

They were urged to carry only essential belongings, identification papers and necessary medicines.

On Thursday, authorities said a major emergency response was triggered by a wildfire affecting about 25 hectares (62 acres) of nearby woodland.

Firefighters and emergency services battled to restrain the flames, while the B399 road through the area was closed.

Large swathes of Germany are tackling dry conditions and high risks of forest fires, weather officials say.

The wider European continent, the world's fastest-warming, has been fighting an unusually active wildfire season, as a wetter winter fed growth in vegetation that dried out during rolling heatwaves.

Hot weather and drought that scientists link to climate change have created ideal conditions for wildfires across Europe this summer, especially in France, Spain and Greece. The Balkans has also endured several heatwaves.