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

PARIS (AP) — France’s government is sounding the alarm about the growing risk of forest fires because of climate change, as hundreds of firefighters in the country’s parched south wrestle with their biggest woodland-destroying blaze so far this year. The fire erupted Sunday and burned on more than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of land on the Mediterranean coast, and spread across the border into Spain. On a visit on Monday to the zone, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said: “The fire season is starting early because of climate warming.” Droughts that hit France last year have been compounded by shortages of rain this winter, leaving already tinder-dry woodlands at even greater risk.