Wildfires spread across France and Spain as Europe swelters

France has deployed more surface-to-air bombers and hundreds more firefighters to combat the spread of wildfires driven by hot winds from a heatwave that has scorched much of Europe. The increase in resources comes as authorities in southwestern France plan to evacuate more towns and move about 3,500 people out of the fire area. A total of nine water-droppers are currently battling the blaze, while a force of 1,700 firefighters are battling the blaze day and night in the arid pine forests of the Gironde region. Further south of Spain, two people were killed in the fire. The body of a 69-year-old shepherd farmer was discovered Monday in the same area where a 62-year-old firefighter died a day earlier when he was engulfed in flames in the northern province of Zamora-West. More than 30 wildfires around Spain have forced thousands of people to evacuate and blackened 220 square kilometers (85 square miles) of forest and scrub. In France and Spain, intense heat is fueling the fires, with forecasters warning of temperatures above 40 °C on Monday. “I left my country in fire, literally under fire,” said Teresa Ribera, Spain's Minister of Ecological Transformation. , said while participating in talks on climate change in Berlin on Monday. She warned of the "still scary outlook for the days to come". After more than 10 days of temperatures above 40 C (104 F), moderate cooling overnight. Read more: https://www.itv.com/news/2022-07-18/wildfires-spread-across-france-and-spain-as-europe-swelters