Officials warned Thursday that flare-ups could cause a massive wildfire to further spread in France's parched southwest, site of the most intense blazes that have blackened swaths of the country this week.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was to meet with authorities battling the Landiras fire south of Bordeaux, and further reinforcements are expected for the 1,100 firefighters on site, the prefecture of the Gironde department said.

France has been buffeted this summer by the historic drought that has forced water-use restrictions nationwide, as well as a series of heatwaves that experts say are being driven by climate change.

"Conditions are particularly difficult: the vegetation and soil are exceptionally dry," the prefecture said in a statement, warning that extreme dry heat is likely until at least Sunday.

"There is a very serious risk of new outbreaks."

Temperatures in the region could top 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Thursday, weather forecasters predicted.

The Landiras blaze erupted in July — the driest month seen in France since 1961 — destroying 14,000 hectares and forcing thousands of people to evacuate before it was contained.

But it continued to smoulder in the tinder-dry pine forests and peat-rich soil, and officials suspect arson may have played a role in the latest flare-up, which has burned 6,800 hectares (17,000 acres) since Tuesday.

Currently eight major wildfires are raging in France and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who was also heading to meet Gironde officials Thursday, said Sweden and Italy were sending fire-fighting aircraft to help.

President Emmanuel Macron added on Twitter that Germany, Greece, Poland, Romania and Austria are also providing help.

"Across the country over 10,000 firefighters and security forces are mobilised against the flames… These soldiers of fire are our heroes," he said.

– 'Battled all night' –

"You'd think we're in California, it's gigantic… And they're used to forest fires here but we're being overwhelmed on all sides — nobody could have expected this," Remy Lahay, a firefighter deployed near Hostens in the Landes de Gascogne natural park, told AFP.

On several nearby houses, people hung out white sheets saying "Thank you for saving our homes" and other messages of support for the weary fire battalions.

"We battled all night to stop the fire from spreading, notably to defend the village of Belin-Beliet," Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Mendousse of the Gironde fire and rescue service told journalists in Hostens.

Seventeen homes have been destroyed or damaged since Tuesday, and nearly 10,000 people evacuated, but no further orders to leave the area are expected "for the time being", Mendousse said.

Acrid smoke has spread across much of the southwestern Atlantic coast and its beaches that draw huge crowds of tourists each summer, with the regional ARS health agency "strongly" urging people to wear protective face masks.

The smoke also forced the closing of the A63 motorway, a major artery toward Spain, between Bordeaux and Bayonne.

Arson suspected as huge French wildfire reignites
Landiras, France (AFP) Aug 10, 2022 –

A wildfire that officials thought was under control in southwest France has reignited amid a record drought and extreme heat, possibly the result of arson, officials said Wednesday.

More than 6,200 hectares (around 15,000 acres) of tinder-dry forest have burned in just 24 hours in the so-called Landiras blaze, the largest of several that scorched the region last month, prompting the evacuation of 10,000 people since Tuesday evening.

It had been brought under control — but not fully extinguished — after burning nearly 14,000 hectares, before flaring up on Tuesday.

The government said Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin would travel to the frontline of fire-fighting efforts in the southwestern French region of Gironde on Thursday.

Following the reignition of the fires, Darmanin announced more resources including more than 1,000 firefighters, nine planes and two helicopters equipped to drop water.

No one has been injured but 16 homes were destroyed or damaged near the village of Belin-Beliet, and officials said six fire engines had been burned.

"The risks are very high" that parched conditions will allow the fire to spread further, said Martin Guespereau, prefect of the Gironde department.

"The weather is very unfavourable because of the heat, the dry air, the record drought and the fact that there is a lot of peat in the ground… the fire didn't go out in July, it went underground," he told journalists.

Darmanin said investigators suspected arson may be involved.

"There were eight fires that erupted between 8:00 and 9:00 am (0600 and 0700 GMT) that erupted at intervals of a few hundred metres, which is extremely unusual," he said in Mostuejouls, north of the Mediterranean city of Montpellier, where another fire was raging in the Grands Causses natural park.

He also told reporters that Sweden and Italy would send fire-fighting aircraft to France within 24 hours to help.

– 'The sky was roaring' –

"It's a major fire… much more intense and fast-moving" than at the height of the Landiras blaze last month, Marc Vermeulen of the regional fire-fighting authority told journalists.

"I opened the door last night and there was (a) red wall in front of us, the sky was roaring like the ocean," said Eliane, a 43-year-old at a temporary shelter for evacuees in Belin-Beliet.

For Christian Fostitchenko, 61, and his partner Monique, waiting at a martial arts dojo in nearby Salles, it was their second evacuation of the summer from their home in Saint-Magne.

"This time we were really scared — the flames were less than 100 metres (328 feet) from the house," he said.

The fire was spreading toward the A63 motorway, a major artery linking Bordeaux to Spain, with thick smoke forcing the road's closure between Bordeaux and Bayonne.

France has been buffeted this summer by a record drought that has forced water-use restrictions nationwide, as well as a series of heatwaves that many experts warn are being driven by climate change.

Wildfires have also ignited in the dry hills of the southeast and even in the normally lush areas of Brittany along the coast.

On Wednesday, officials in western France said a wildfire near Angers and Le Mans has burned 1,200 hectares since Monday as nearly 400 firefighters struggle to contain it.