Investigators probing the suspected deliberate lighting of what has become a raging wildfire in southwest France detained a man for questioning.
LA TESTE-DE-BUCH, France — Investigators probing the suspected deliberate lighting of what has become a raging wildfire in southwest France detained a man for questioning, as firefighters and water-bombing planes on Tuesday fought ferocious flames there and in other parts of Europe that have baked in extreme heat.
The 39-year-old man being questioned Tuesday lives in Gironde and was detained Monday afternoon, the office said. He also was questioned in 2012 on suspicion of starting a forest fire but that investigation was shelved in 2014 for lack of evidence, the prosecutor’s office added. Swirling winds and extreme heat have complicated firefighting. Record-smashing temperatures eased along France’s Atlantic seaboard Tuesday while other parts of the country and the continent continued to broil.
The people evacuated Monday included 74 residents of a retirement home, authorities said. Another 80 care-home residents were among 2,000 people getting moved out Tuesday from the latest of more than a half-dozen towns and villages that were ordered to evacuate, authorities said. The head of Spain’s Civil Protection and Emergencies agency, Leonardo Marcos González, noted Tuesday that extreme heat and wildfires have hit the country three weeks earlier than usual this year and that many fires broke out at the same time.
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