Firefighters battle the last hot spots of a monster wildfire in France's southwest
France Wildfires A firefighter works to extinguished fires near Lege-Cap-Ferret, southwestern France, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva) (Emma Da Silva/AP Photo/Emma Da Silva) LANTON, France — With his watering can and bucket, Jean-François Pauner meanders from one small fire to the next along a forest floor, dousing small flareups of wildfires that have swept through a swath of southwestern France. “This is the first fire I'm experiencing real-time, and I can tell you it’s vicious," said Pauner, 64. “It’s underground, it comes out at any moment, and no matter how much we try to extinguish it, re-extinguish it, re-extinguish it, it keeps restarting all the time.” “It’s like a steamroller that’s constantly, constantly rolling,” said Pauner, wearing shorts, boots and sunglasses on a string around his neck on a road through cultivated pine trees, as the ground smoldered in pockets. Europe is facing an extremely hot summer, fueling wildfires from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean.
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Three Greek firefighters died fighting fires this week on the southern island of Crete. As of Friday, Interior Minister Nunez said, a total of 308 people had been arrested in connection with the blazes — including more than 120 minors — and 33 people had either been convicted or were being held pending court rulings on their cases. On Friday, the coast guard and fire department launched a sea evacuation for people trapped by a wildfire burning out of control on the Greek mainland west of Athens, one of several blazes burning in parts of the country.
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France Wildfires A firefighter works to extinguished fires near Lege-Cap-Ferret, southwestern France, Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva) (Emma Da Silva/AP Photo/Emma Da Silva) LANTON, France — With his watering can and bucket, Jean-François Pauner meanders from one small fire to the next along a forest floor, dousing small flareups of wildfires that have swept through a swath of southwestern France. “This is the first fire I'm experiencing real-time, and I can tell you it’s vicious," said Pauner, 64. “It’s underground, it comes out at any moment, and no matter how much we try to extinguish it, re-extinguish it, re-extinguish it, it keeps restarting all the time.” “It’s like a steamroller that’s constantly, constantly rolling,” said Pauner, wearing shorts, boots and sunglasses on a string around his neck on a road through cultivated pine trees, as the ground smoldered in pockets. Europe is facing an extremely hot summer, fueling wildfires from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean.
