Almost 1000 firefighters and helicopters have battled a wildfire about 40km from France's second-largest city Marseille, but officials say lower temperatures and increased humidity have improved the situation.
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See subscription optionsThe 240-hectare wildfire flared up a week after a separate conflagration reached the northwestern outskirts of Marseille, forcing people to leave or go into lockdown, and temporarily shuttering the area's airport.
Pierre Bepoix, the colonel of rescue operations and deputy director for the area's firefighters, said 150 people had been moved, but firefighters had managed to save 150 homes and portions of the area's forests.
"It was a fire that swept through relatively dense vegetation ... which made our work particularly complicated," Bepoix told Reuters.
"Obviously, priority was given to the preservation and protection of these homes and the lives that could be in these buildings."
Local officials said 120 homes had been threatened by the fire, adding it was not possible yet to identify any possible damage to them, and that two firefighters had been injured.
In Spain, a wildfire that broke out on Thursday evening in the central Toledo province and could be seen from downtown Madrid, ravaged 3200 hectares of woodland.
Regional emergency services said early on Friday firefighters had secured the perimeter, though there were concerns over strong winds and high temperatures forecast throughout the day.
Australian Associated Press
