LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron urged fire crews to “stay strong” as they battled Monday to bring a monster wildfire under control, warning that the fight will take time but vowing, “We will win this battle together.”On a visit to a coordination center for the massive firefighting effort, Macron heard how the blaze in the southwest has been wildly unpredictable, transforming at times into a self-feeding fire storm. He praised fire crews who stopped the fire’s progression after successive days of spreading flames but cautioned that the battle isn’t yet won.“The weeks ahead will be hard,” he said.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — Fire crews and planes wrestled Monday to bring a monster wildfire under control in southwest France before a forecast jump in temperatures complicates the massive firefighting effort against a blaze that has burned an area four times the size of Paris.Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the fire had stopped growing, a first glimmer of hope since the inferno forced a staggering 220,000 people to flee in the region around the city of Bordeaux.But with woodlands still smoldering, the minister cautioned that the battle isn't yet won.“It hasn’t progressed during the night,” Nunez said.
“We have to remain very concentrated, very determined, to go at any moment.”He spoke after French President Emmanuel Macron held a crisis meeting Monday focused on the blaze in the Gironde region and wildfires that crews continue to tackle elsewhere.The Gironde prefecture said the situation overnight remained “globally stable” — a change from previous days when officials said flames had crept to within 15 kilometers (10 miles) of the outskirts of Bordeaux, a historic city of 268,000 people, and generated self-feeding firestorms with lightning bolts that ignited more blazes.No new evacuations were announced Monday. But with France about to enter its peak August tourist season, Gironde authorities worked to keep vacationers away, banning holiday camps for children and for people with disabilities. Nunez also urged people to avoid the region, popular for its Atlantic beaches and some of France's largest woodlands.In the adjacent southwestern Landes region, where hundreds of firefighters have been making progress against another virulent but smaller fire, the prefectu…
LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — Fire crews and planes wrestled Monday to bring a monster wildfire under control in southwest France before a forecast jump in temperatures complicates the massive firefighting effort against a blaze that has burned an area four times the size of Paris.Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the fire had stopped growing, a first glimmer of hope since the inferno forced a staggering 220,000 people to flee in the region around the city of Bordeaux.But with woodlands still smoldering, the minister cautioned that the battle isn't yet won.“It hasn’t progressed during the night,” Nunez said. The national weather service forecast temperatures above 35 C (95 F) in the southwest on Tuesday and likely higher on Wednesday.“We know temperatures are going to climb again, that we'll enter a phase of intense heat and so we really have to remain very cautious,” Nunez said.
Summary from source