Four killed as forest fires rage in Riviera

FIREFIGHTERS battled to control forest fires sweeping through southern France that have killed four people and forced thousands to flee their homes, as President Jacques Chirac promised tough penalties for arsonists.

A British pensioner and her granddaughter died as they tried to flee huge forest fires set by arsonists that tore through the French Riviera.

Margaret Timson, 63, and Kirsty Egerton, 15, from the Manchester area, were on a walking holiday in the south of France. Another two people were killed in the Riviera fires which local mayor Luc Jousse warned were “a new form of terrorism”.