As heat and dry conditions fan wildfires in France, volunteers fan out to help

LANTON, France (AP) — With his watering can and bucket, Jean-François Pauner meanders from one small fire to the next along a forest floor, dousing small flareups of wildfires that have swept through a swath of southwestern France.

“This is the first fire I'm experiencing real-time, and I can tell you it’s vicious," said Pauner, 64. “It’s underground, it comes out at any moment, and no matter how much we try to extinguish it, re-extinguish it, re-extinguish it, it keeps restarting all the time.”

“It’s like a steamroller that’s constantly, constantly rolling,” said Pauner, wearing shorts, boots and sunglasses on a string around his neck on a road through cultivated pine trees, as the ground smoldered in pockets.

Pauner, who has a residence in nearby Lanton, is among the untold numbers of volunteers who have mobilized to support firefighters battling the biggest wildfires in years in France .

“I’m protecting my forest, and my home,” he said, after pouring out his watering can into a smoking ditch as if watering a garden, then huffing in the heat on Thursday.

The wildfires blazing through cultivated forests on an Atlantic coast also known for towering sand dunes and tourist resorts have devastated 42,000 hectares (about 162 square miles) west of Bordeaux, driving nearly a quarter-million people out of their homes and vacation sites.

Europe is facing an extremely hot summer, fueling wildfires from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean. The United Kingdom, Spain , Germany, Greece and Turkey all battled blazes this week.

As cooler, more humid air moved into southwest France this week, authorities have allowed nearly two-thirds of the 224,000 evacuees to return home. But the ground still simmers in many places.

“It’s stabilized, but not totally stopped,” French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told RTL radio on Friday. “Hot spots remain.”

Volunteers like Pauner — what he calls “little eyes” on watch to report flare-ups to firefighters — do what they can with limited resources: Others have mobilized their trucks and giant jerrycans to help supply fire sites.

Locals point to prolonged drought and climate change for worsening conditions: Pauner said the region endured more than two months without significant rainfall, leaving vegetation exceptionally dry.

On Friday, firefighters were working to control the last hot spots of the massive wildfire that has burned an area four times the size of Paris and forced thousands out of their homes.

TV images showed fire crews using rakes to dig down into the smoldering forest floor so buried embers can be doused with water, a long and painstaking job.

Police and investigators were looking into the origins of France's wildfire, which could have been triggered deliberately — some suspects appeared to be repeat offenders, he said — or through negligence.

As of Friday, Interior Minister Nunez said, a total of 308 people had been arrested in connection with the blazes — including more than 120 minors — and 33 people had either been convicted or were being held pending court rulings on their cases.

Nunez also said in a social media post that Ukraine was to dispatch 70 civil security personnel and 10 vehicles in the coming days to help strengthen the deployment.

Pockets of trouble with fires continued across other parts of Europe.

In England, where half the country has been baking under drought conditions, firefighters battled a wildfire near a nuclear power station for a third day.

The Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said a fire near Leiston on the east coast of England had “stabilized” and there was no concern about it spreading to the Sizewell B power plant, which is just a few miles away.

More than 100 firefighters have been deployed to battle the blaze, which has now burned about 150 hectares (370 acres), in Dunwich Heath.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Henry Griffin told reporters the fire has been stabilized, but because of its scale and unpredictable winds in the area, "I wouldn’t say it is under control.”

Many parts of Greece were listed at high or extreme risk of wildfires on Friday, with strong winds increasing the risk of blazes spreading fast. Three Greek firefighters died fighting fires this week on the southern island of Crete.

On Friday, the coast guard and fire department launched a sea evacuation for people trapped by a wildfire burning out of control on the Greek mainland west of Athens, one of several blazes burning in parts of the country.

The fire, which broke out Friday morning in the Agios Vasilios area of Boeotia, was being tackled by more than 105 firefighters and 29 vehicles, the fire department said.

The blaze was being fanned by gale force winds that were hampering water-dropping aircraft from flying over the area. The air turbulence meant that only one helicopter was able to take on water from the sea to fight the blaze.

___ Macpherson reported from Paris. Danica Kirka in London, Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece, and Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.