Spain: Wildfires force 70,000 people to evacuate in Madrid region

More than 280,000 people have been forced to flee their homes as devastating wildfires rage across central Spain and southwestern France.

Two major blazes merged into one, burning 30 square kilometers by Friday and forcing evacuations or home confinement for some 60,000 people.

France was preparing to use a massive specially adapted cargo aircraft to dump flame retardants Saturday on a wildfire that has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, including from some suburbs of the wine region city of Bordeaux.

Firefighters were digging trenches, deploying flame retardants and taking other measures to slow the fire's advance, while the government mobilized hundreds of soldiers and rushed 1.5 million protective face masks to the region to shield residents from heavy smoke.