Bordeaux wildfire eases after 220,000 flee, but new heatwave raises flare-up fears

Firefighters and water-bombing aircraft were trying on Monday to contain a wildfire in southwest France's Bordeaux wine region before a forecast heat spike, after the blaze burned 42,000 hectares of pine forest and forced about 220,000 residents and holidaymakers to flee.

Regional firefighting official Wilfried Schneider said fire fronts were less active than the previous day and winds had eased, but he said the fire was still not under control and it was too early to call it stable. Drizzle in Saint-Jean d'Illac offered firefighters some relief, while smouldering trees and blackened trunks lined roads closer to the fire.

The fire, which began Wednesday last week, has destroyed about 240 homes. France's national firefighters federation said it had generated a pyrocumulonimbus, a fire cloud that can create its own winds and lightning, and said the phenomenon had not previously been seen in the country.

French President Emmanuel Macron was due to hold a crisis cabinet meeting. Finance Minister Roland Lescure said insurers had agreed to reimburse rehousing costs for displaced people under their contracts, whether or not their homes were damaged.

The met office forecast temperatures in southwest France could reach 40C from Tuesday with dry wind. Philippe de Gonneville, mayor of Lege-Cap-Ferret, said conditions could allow the fire to restart.