Firefighters have been igniting tactical fires in southwest France in a bid to slow the advance of wildfires after a blaze that flared in Gironde on Tuesday grew to threaten an area the size of a small city. Further prevention techniques have seen firefighters monitoring the area from watchtowers for signs of smoke and soaking the earth where fire has already passed through to make sure the flames are fully extinguished. “The hours pile up and everyone is giving everything they’ve got,” one firefighter told FRANCE 24 on Saturday. “The tiredness is starting to set in.” While firefighters are still working to tame the fire, cooler weather on Sunday helped to quell the flames and prevent the blaze expanding.
