Man held as police probe raging wildfires in France

Flames rise at a forest fire near Louchats, France on Monday, July 18, 2022. France scrambled more water-bombing planes and hundreds more firefighters to combat spreading wildfires that were being fed Monday by hot swirling winds from a searing heat wave broiling much of Europe (Philippe Lopez/AP/PA)

French investigators probing the suspected deliberate lighting of what has become a raging wildfire in the country’s south west have detained a man for questioning, as firefighters and water-bombing planes continued fighting against the ferocious flames.

Two huge fires feeding on tinder-dry pine forests in the Gironde region have forced tens of thousands of people to flee homes and summer vacation spots since they broke out on July 12.