Wildfires ravage France, Italy and Spain as expert explains why blazes are so bad this summer

Fire crews and planes wrestled Monday to bring a monster wildfire under control in southwest France before a forecast jump in temperatures complicates the massive firefighting effort against a blaze that has burned an area four times the size of Paris.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the fire had stopped growing, a first glimmer of hope since the inferno forced a staggering 220,000 people to flee in the region around the city of Bordeaux. But with woodlands still smouldering, the minister cautioned that the battle isn’t yet won.