A quarter-million people flee their homes in France and Spain as wildfires burn

France was preparing to use a massive specially adapted cargo aircraft to dump flame retardants Saturday on a wildfire that has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, including from some suburbs of the wine region city of Bordeaux.

LEGE-CAP FERRET, France — France was preparing to use a massive specially adapted cargo aircraft to dump flame retardants Saturday on a wildfire that has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, including from some suburbs of the wine region city of Bordeaux.

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Including some 70,000 people evacuated in central Spain, wildfires in southern Europe this week have displaced more than a quarter-million people.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the hulking A400M aircraft will join what is expected to be a “long and very difficult” battle against the blaze raging in the Gironde region of southwestern France.