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.

One of the blazes, raging south of Bordeaux, is suspected to have been started deliberately.

A firefighter stands on a truck at a forest fire near Louchats, 22 miles from Landiras in Gironde, south-west France (Philippe Lopez/AP/PA)

A motorist told police that he saw a vehicle speeding away from the spot where that fire started on July 12.

The motorist pulled over and tried, unsuccessfully, to extinguish the flames, the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office said. Criminal investigators subsequently found evidence pointing to possible arson, it said.

The man taken in for questioning was detained on Monday afternoon.

Water-bombing planes and more than 2,000 firefighters are working day and night to contain that fire and another fierce blaze south west of Bordeaux that investigators are treating as accidental.

The blazes have already burned through more than 70 square miles of forest and vegetation, Gironde authorities said.

A firefighter sprays water as smoke rises at a forest fire (Philippe Lopez/AP/PA)

Thick clouds of smoke and the risk of flames spreading to buildings have forced the evacuations of more than 37,000 people, including 16,000 on Monday alone.

A smaller third fire broke out late on Monday in the Medoc wine region north of Bordeaux, further taxing regional firefighting resources.

Those evacuated on Monday included 74 residents of a retirement home. Animals were also evacuated from a zoo.

Five camp sites went up in flames in the Atlantic coast beach zone south west of Bordeaux, around the Arcachon maritime basin famous for its oysters and resorts.

But weather forecasts on Tuesday offered some consolation, with heatwave temperatures easing along the Atlantic seaboard and rain expected late in the day.