PARIS (AP) — France is deploying dozens of water-bombing planes and hundreds of extra firefighters to battle wildfires that have been burning through much of Europe since Monday.
Authorities in southwestern France said they were evacuating more towns as the winds shifted, threatening to put 3,500 people in the path of the blaze.
Three more water-bombing planes were on the way, joining six others that repeatedly ran over flames and thick clouds of smoke, the Interior Ministry said Sunday night.
He said more than 200 reinforcements were being added to the 1,500 firefighters battling around the clock to control the blaze through the dry pine forests of the Gironde region, sending fireballs into the air to spread the blaze.
