Including some 70,000 people evacuated in central Spain, wildfires in southern Europe this week have displaced more than 250,000 people. French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the hulking A400M aircraft will join 18 other water- and retardant-dropping planes and helicopters waging an expected “long and very difficult” battle against the blaze raging in the Gironde region of southwestern France. He said the fire was about 30 kilometres west of the city and lost some of its intensity overnight. Firefighters in Spain said the blazes spread so fast and violently that they could not be tackled head on. In France, some people even fled by boat when flames swept through touristic towns on the Atlantic coast.