Reuters. French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday (July 27) that a wildfire raging through the Landes region of southwest France had been contained, but that another in Gironde remained "intense", on a visit to thank firefighters battling the blaze.
Some 42,000 hectares have been destroyed in the twin fires with 2,500 firefighters, 18 aircraft and 1,500 soldiers working to contain the inferno, said Interior Minister Laurent Nunez.
Macron said work had been done to build firebreaks in the last 24 hours but that he remained cautious as to how the Gironde fire might evolve, with temperatures set to rise and windy conditions still in place.
He promised to enable the more than 200,000 evacuees to return home as soon as it was safe to do so and thanked everyone who had stepped forward to battle the fires.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said France was going through an unprecedented wildfire season, with the area burned having already surpassed the previous record year of 2022.
