Firefighters continue to tackle the horror blaze in the Gironde area, which has devastated thousands of hectares of land and forced the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. Overnight, firefighters managed to stabilise the massive blaze, but have yet to quash it. In fact, firefighters are still engaged in a race against time, as temperatures are rapidly rising in France amid a new heatwave that could push temperatures to 40C.
Meteo-France has placed the Gironde and Landes departments under a yellow "heatwave" warning starting at noon today, along with more than a dozen other departments in eastern France. Amid the devastation brought by the wildfires, Manuel Martinez, the mayor of one of the hardest-hit towns in the Gironde area, described a "raging fire that we are learning to understand". Calling for more resources for firefighters, he added: "We are at war with an enemy."
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