France’s largest wildfire in decades ‘under control’, says minister

MARSEILLE, France - France’s largest wildfire since 1949 has been brought under control, a minister said on Aug 1, more than a week since the fire erupted in a pine forest near the south-western city of Bordeaux.“The fire in under control, it’s no longer progressing,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said, however adding the fire was still active in some areas.France has for weeks been battling wildfires after a series of deadly heatwaves that have dried up riverbeds and vegetation, extreme weather events scientists have linked to human-made climate change.In the Gironde region near the winemaking capital of Bordeaux, an inferno has ripped through 42,000ha of pine forest along the Atlantic coastline – an area larger than the US city of Detroit.It has also destroyed around 240 homes.Inhabita