A "monster" wildfire raged for a third day in southwestern France on Thursday, ravaging forests and forcing 10,000 people to evacuate their homes, APA reports citing Reuters.
With no let-up in scorching temperatures likely before the weekend, firefighters backed by water-bombing aircraft battled on many fronts, saying the massive fire could change direction at any moment.
"It's an ogre, it's a monster," Gregory Allione from the French firefighters body FNSPF told RTL radio.
Wildfires have broken out across Europe this summer as successive heatwaves bake the continent and renew focus on climate change risks to industry and livelihoods.
Valentine Dupy took photos of her house with her phone before being evacuated from Belin-Beliet, at the heart of the Gironde region "just in case something happens".
"It was like an apocalypse. Smoke everywhere ... and planes throwing orange powder onto the fire."
Firefighters said they had managed to save her village, transformed into a ghost town after police told residents to evacuate as the flames approached.
But the blaze reached the outskirts, leaving wrecked houses and charred tractors in its wake.
"We've been lucky. Our houses were saved. But you see the catastrophe all over there. Some houses could not be saved," said resident Gaetan, pointing to houses burnt to the ground.
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