Most are stationed along an active 40km fire front in the south-west, where a blaze described as “monstrous” has continued to destroy pine forests. German firefighters and their vehicles arrived in the early hours of Friday to help tackle the huge Landiras fire in Gironde and Landes, south of Bordeaux, which flared up again this week after ravaging woodland in July. The remains of a house destroyed by fire in Belin-Beliet, south-west France. Photo: Guillaume Souvant/AFP/Getty Images Romanian firefighters and teams from Poland, Austria, Greece and Italy were also deployed to help more than 1,100 French firefighters trying to contain the blaze. President Emmanuel Macron tweeted about the more than 360 firefighters who arrived in vehicles and planes: “Our partners are coming to help France against the fires. I thank them. European solidarity works!”. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In a summer of extreme heat and drought, France has faced its worst forest fires in years. A local firefighter described the Landiras fire in south-west France as “a sleeping monster that can wake up at any gust of wind”. French state broadcaster reported that since the start of the year, 56,000 hectares of forest had burned in France – three times the annual average for this decade. There were also forest fires in northern areas not usually affected by summer fires, including Brittany, where firefighting planes from Sweden arrived to help. French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne (centre) greets firefighters as she visits the scene of a fire in Hostens, south-west France. Photo: Philippe Lopez/EPA Authorities in the Gironde said in a statement that more than 7,400 hectares of forest had burned in the Landiras fire, France’s largest blaze. They said although the fire had not grown further overnight, high temperatures and dry conditions expected on Friday meant there was a “serious risk” of the fire spreading and it would be a “complicated” day for fire crews. The fire had already destroyed 14,000 hectares in July – France’s driest month since 1961 – before it was contained, but was never fully extinguished and continued to smolder in the region’s peat-rich soil before erupting again this week in the vegetation-dry pine forests. Since it broke out again on Tuesday, the fire, which officials suspect may have been arson, has burned 7,400 hectares, damaged or destroyed 17 homes and forced 10,000 people to evacuate, said Lt. Col. Arnaud Mendousse of the fire and rescue service. Gironde. the agency told AFP.
