Southwest France swelters under a heat wave as fire crews guard smoldering vineyards

A blistering heatwave gripped southwest France on Monday, sending thermometers soaring to 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 Fahrenheit) in parts of the Charente and Aude. In Aude, a patchwork of vineyards and Mediterranean scrubland, hundreds of firefighters remained on the hillsides guarding the edges of a massive blaze that scorched 16,000 hectares last week. The national weather authority, Meteo-France, placed 12 departments on red alert, France’s highest heat warning, anticipating exceptional heat stretching from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean plains.