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LGE FERRET: People in France’s fire-hit southwest were “coming up for air”, officials said Friday, after firefighters managed to stabilise a massive blaze that had burned for nine days.
Most of the 220,000 people who had been evacuated from the flames, which at one stage seemed to be heading for the city of Bordeaux, have now been allowed home.
“The crisis isn’t over, the fire isn’t under control yet, but we’re making progress,” said Sophie Brocas, prefect of the southwestern Gironde region.
“We’re coming up for air.” But another blaze in the southeastern Var region flared up and was threatening villages roughly 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Marseille, forcing the evacuation of 2,500 people.
