Europe's hot, dry summer takes its toll with fires in France and Greece, and drought in the UK

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A record-breaking hot and dry summer tightened its grip on Europe Monday, as water-dropping planes swooped over a major wildfire in Greece, firefighters in France sought to stabilize a blaze in Provence, and much of the U.K. recorded its driest July in nearly two centuries.

Wildfires west of Athens jumped containment lines, a day after a midair collision between two helicopters killed two crew members.

A Greek and a Danish national died and two others were hospitalized in the helicopter collision. All four were private operators chartered by the Greek firefighting service.

In France, firefighters in the region around Bordeaux guarded against potential flare-ups inside a still-burning scar four times the size of Paris.

A prolonged heat wave and lack of rainfall led to the driest July in England and Wales in nearly 200 years of recordkeeping, according to provisional statistics, the U.K.'s weather service said Monday.