A firefighter stands before flames as a forest fire rages in Saint-Jean-d'Illac, some 30km from Bordeaux, July 26, as a wildfire has been ravaging the forest north of the Arcachon Basin (Gironde). AFP-Yonhap
BORDEAUX — Firefighters battled massive blazes tearing through forests across France and Spain Monday, as authorities warned of a fresh heatwave set to engulf the scorched French wine-growing region around the major city of Bordeaux.
More than 325,000 people have fled their homes, mostly in the Gironde department, home to Bordeaux, as some of the worst forest fires in either country's history rage across southwest France and central Spain near Madrid.
France's fire has caused an unprecedented "pyrocumulonimbus" — a giant fire cloud that creates its own winds and packs lightning that causes more blazes, said the National Firefighters Federation of France (FNSPF).
"It's a David-versus-Goliath scenario... at some point, we'll find a weak spot and strike there," said FNSPF spokesman Eric Brocardi.
