Fears of new forest fires in France and Europe come to its aid

Firefighters from several European countries arrived in France on Friday to help fight forest fires caused by historical waves of heat and drought, as officials said that rising temperatures and worsening drought threatened the outbreak of new forest fires in the southwest of the country.

Rising temperatures and worsening drought threaten to spark new forest fires in southwest France due to historical waves of heat and drought, officials said on Friday, as firefighters from several European countries arrived in France to help them.

361 European firefighters from Germany, Romania and Greece went to southwest France to support 1,100 firefighters working day and night to put out a massive fire that ignited again in Landeras in the southwest of the country, where 14,000 hectares burned in July.

On the other hand, the European Commission said that four planes from the European Union's firefighting fleet were sent to France from Greece and Sweden. Poland announced that it will send 146 firefighters from Thursday to help in the south, as of Friday noon, according to the French presidency.

Fires are still burning in the Gironde (southwest), Jura (east), Drom, Aveyron and Lozere (southeast), with smaller fires burning every day from north to south.

Scientists believe that in Europe, the number of deaths related to heat stress could double or even triple, depending on the extent of global warming during the current century.

The current heat wave began in France on July 31, and is the third this year after one in late June and another in mid-July.

This year, July was rated the driest month since March 1961.