LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — France says it will use a massive specially adapted cargo aircraft on Saturday to dump flame retardants on a wildfire that has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, including from some suburbs of the wine region city of Bordeaux.Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the hulking A400M aircraft will join what is expected to be a “long and very difficult” battle against the blaze raging in the Gironde region of western France.That blaze and another wildfire in the Landes region have together forced 197,000 people to evacuate, he said.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.LEGE-CAP FERRET, France (AP) — Authorities in France evacuated some suburbs of Bordeaux on Saturday as a massive wildfire shifted toward the city famous for its wines. The government mobilized soldiers to join the battle against the flames and rushed in 1.5 million face masks to protect against choking smoke.
The prefect of the Gironde region that includes Bordeaux ordered the evacuation for parts of three of the city’s western suburbs, including its airport. Other towns and villages further west of the city were also ordered to evacuate, adding to the tally of 141,000 people who’d previously already been told to move in the face of two major fires in the southwestern Gironde and Landes regions.Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu described the fires as unprecedented and said the Gironde blaze had become so strong that it was generating its own winds.
