Firefighters battle France’s 1st major forest blaze of 2023

PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of firefighters are steadily wrestling under control France’s first major forest fire of the year. It started Sunday and has ripped through swaths of woods and scrub straddling the country’s southern border with Spain. A rescue services spokesman told broadcaster FranceInfo on Monday morning that the blaze is being successfully contained and that its biggest flames have been extinguished. But the spokesman said fire crews have yet to completely stop the spread of the blaze and put it out. He said more than 500 firefighters remain on hand.