Firefighters battle to keep blazes away from France's Bordeaux

BORDEAUX, July 27 - Firefighters battled throughout the night and into Monday morning to tackle huge wildfires threatening the French city of Bordeaux.

About 220,000 people have been evacuated in France, while in neighbouring Spain more than 75,000 people have been evacuated and a further 30,000 ordered to shelter in place, authorities said over the weekend, as Europe faces an intense summer heatwave.

"This is a fire of a size never seen before," said Jerome Steffe, mayor of Cestas, on Monday. Cestas is one of the suburbs that lies just outside the main Bordeaux city area and from where thousands have had to be evacuated from homes and holiday residences.

The blazes, which broke out last week near the Atlantic coast, are now 15 km (10 miles) away from entry points to the main metropolitan area of Bordeaux.

A major risk is that temperatures in Bordeaux are set to rise to 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) later this week, according to forecasts from France's weather office.

"It's a race against time before the heatwave returns," added Steffe.

President Emmanuel Macron's government will discuss the wildfires situation at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

So far in July, high temperatures have averaged 32.2 degrees Celsius in the Aquitaine region, which is 7.3C above the month's normal high between 1961 and 1990, according to Reuters Climate Monitor. REUTERS