More than 250,000 people evaculate in France and Spain as wildfires burn: report

French authorities mobilized a specially modified military cargo aircraft Saturday to help battle a fast-moving wildfire that has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes, including residents in suburbs outside the famed wine-producing city of Bordeaux.

The evacuations in France, combined with the removal of roughly 70,000 people from wildfire-threatened areas in central Spain, have pushed the total number of people displaced by wildfires across southern Europe this week to more than 250,000.

French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said an A400M transport aircraft, outfitted to drop large quantities of fire retardant, would join an aerial firefighting fleet of 18 planes and helicopters in what he described as a "long and very difficult" effort to contain the blaze in the Gironde region of southwestern France.

Authorities have been preparing for changing weather conditions later Saturday, with forecasts calling for winds to shift from west to east, a development that could steer the flames toward Bordeaux. 

In response, firefighters intensified containment efforts by digging firebreaks, deploying flame retardants and taking additional measures to slow the wildfire's advance, the Associated Press reported.

Nunez said the fire was burning about 30 kilometers (20 miles) west of Bordeaux and had shown signs of easing somewhat overnight, although officials warned conditions could quickly deteriorate if stronger winds developed.