European firefighters join battle to stop French wildfires

PARIS (AP) — Firefighters from across Europe have started arriving in France to help battle several wildfires, including a blaze ravaging pine forests in the country’s southwest. The firefighters’ brigade from the Gironde region said the spread of the forest fire was limited overnight due to little wind but conditions for containing the blaze on Friday remained “unfavorable” due to hot, dry weather. A series of heat waves have compounded a critical drought in much of Europe to create prime wildfire conditions. Portugal had pine forests burning for a seventh day Friday while Britain sweated through another day of unusually warm weather.