Sawt Falasteen - New wildfire forces evacuation of 500 people in France

This summer southwest France has been ravaged by forest fires which advanced quickly because of tinderbox conditions worsened by a series of heatwaves.

A new fire broke out in the department of Landes on Thursday, with much of the country in the grip of a new heatwave.

Some 500 firefighters have been deployed to battle the blaze.

"The next fifteen hours will be decisive," prefect Gilles Clavreul told reporters.

Fire chief Arnaud Fabre said the fire was slowing down but he added he was concerned about potential flare-ups as the heat returns, with temperatures expected to reach 36C later Friday.

Around midnight, the flames were only a few hundred meters from Luglon, a small village that sits in the pine forest of the Landes de Gascogne nature park.

No homes have been destroyed.

On Friday morning, thick smoke blanketed the village in an opaque haze.

"We protected the houses. Everything held," a firefighter told one of the residents.

French officials are still taking stock of the damage caused by a series of fires, mainly in the southwest of France, including the largest wildfire since 1949 in the department of Gironde.

S.Barghouti--SF-PST