• Extreme weather: Firefighters in Spain and France are racing to control wildfires with temperatures in Bordeaux, near France’s biggest blaze, forecast to reach 107 degrees Fahrenheit (42 Celsius) on Wednesday and spike above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Spain, where the heat wave is set to last at least until Sunday.
• On the ground: Before and after images show the devastating impact of wildfires on the Gironde region in southwestern France. About 24,000 of the 63,000 people who had been evacuated amid the wildfires in Spain have been allowed to return home.
• Climate change: Western Europe has endured rolling, climate change-fueled extreme heat waves since May, sweltering under a succession of heat domes. These act like a lid on a pot, trapping hot air and turning the landscape tinder dry, priming it for the fires that are still raging in both countries.
Authorities fighting wildfire in France and Spain are beginning to express cautious optimism, with some blazes declared as stabilized though not extinguished.
There are fears, however, that soaring temperatures in Europe today may exacerbate the fires amid the continent’s fourth heat wave of the summer.
