Houses ravaged as wildfires blaze in France
STORY: More than 1,000 firefighters, backed by water-bombing planes, battled for a third day a "monster" blaze that has forced thousands from their homes and scorched thousands of hectares of forest in France's southwestern Gironde region.
Firefighters said they had managed to save the village of Belin-Beliet, transformed into a ghost town after police told residents to evacuate as the flames approached.
But the blaze reached the outskirts, leaving wrecked houses and charred tractors in its wake.
