Cooler, more humid air moved into south-west France later in the week, allowing authorities to grant two-thirds of the 224,000 evacuees to return home.<\/p>\n
But the ground still simmers in many places.<\/p>\n
“It’s stabilised, but not totally stopped,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told RTL radio.<\/p>\n
“Hot spots remain.”<\/p>\n
![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/d2a61c3ec87ba658a4d7a836637458b2.jpeg\")
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French schoolchildren create drawings for firefighters, hung at a sport complex-turned-donation centre, in Sainte-Helene. (Reuters: Yves Herman)<\/p>\n
With his watering can and bucket, local Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Pauner moved from one small fire to the next, dousing scattered flare-ups.<\/p>\n
“This is the first fire I’m experiencing real-time, and I can tell you it’s vicious,” said the 64-year-old.<\/p>\n
“No matter how much we try to extinguish it, re-extinguish it, re-extinguish it, it keeps restarting.”<\/p>\n
Australia sends aircraft, firefighters<\/p>\n
Australia is sending aerial firefighting assets and teams to support French firefighters, the defence ministry announced on Friday.<\/p>\n
A CH-47D Chinook helicopter, equipped with an 11,300-litre water tank, and a Bell 412 reconnaissance and support aircraft will be deployed to France.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/10846c4099f36c27e6eac9b789fbece7.jpeg\")
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A NSW RFS CH-47D Chinook helicopter acquired in 2024. (Supplied: NSW RFS)<\/p>\n
The aircraft will accompanied by 24 aerial and ground crew from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.<\/p>\n
Record El Ni\u00f1o to bake Australia<\/a><\/p>\n Despite El Ni\u00f1o being months away from peaking, it could potentially trigger Australia’s hottest spring on record.<\/p>\n Federal Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain said France was a close and valued friend of Australia.<\/p>\n “Australia has some of the finest fire-fighting capability on the planet and we are only too happy to do whatever we can to assist, just as France came to our aid during the 2019-2020 Black Summer Bushfires,” Ms McBain said.<\/p>\n The assistance is being provided in response to a request from the French government, with deployment taking place in the coming days.<\/p>\n Firefighters in Greece face raging winds<\/p>\n Firefighters in Greece are tackling 73 wildfires around the country, 51 of which broke out on Friday, local time.<\/p>\n The fire department said over 300 firefighters were operating in the area of Porto Germeno, some 70 kilometres north-west of Athens in the region of Viotia.<\/p>\n A wildfire burns on Greek island of Crete, where two firefighters died while battling the blaze. (AP Photo: Giannis Angelakis)<\/p>\n “The fire has reached the sea \u2026 homes have certainly been damaged,” a fire department spokesman told AFP.<\/p>\n “The winds are very strong.”<\/p>\n In the coastal village of Agios Vasileios, a fire broke out on Friday, causing some 300 people to require rescue by sea.<\/p>\n “The environmental damage is huge,” the mayor of Thebes Giorgos Anastasiou told Open TV.<\/p>\n Wildfires have flared in several parts of the country this week, including on the popular island of Crete, where three firefighters lost their lives<\/a>.<\/p>\n England, Wales set for driest July in 190 years<\/p>\n England and Wales are on course for the driest July since records began nearly 200 years ago, the Met Office said, amid a prolonged heatwave and exceptionally low rainfall.<\/p>\n![\"fires](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/f5adc45650d611c925b45ded3f92c93b.jpeg\")
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