Firefighters battle wildfires in France

Firefighters continued to battle raging wildfires in France's Gironde region on Saturday, with the blazes forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.

With winds expected to shift in a west-to-east direction on Saturday afternoon, potentially driving flames closer to Bordeaux, fire crews and authorities were digging trenches, using retardants and taking other blaze-blocking steps, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said, predicting a "long and very difficult" battle.

He said the fire was about 30 kilometers (20 miles) west of the city and lost some of its intensity overnight.

The prefect of the Gironde region that includes Bordeaux said the blaze grew into "a firestorm" on Friday after igniting earlier this week and cautioned that it "remains dangerous" even though firefighters were making progress.

The government mobilized soldiers to join fire crews and was rushing in 1.5 million face masks to protect against choking smoke.

Evacuation orders were sent with special alerts to mobile phones, instructing people to leave, Gironde prefect Sophie Brocas said. She said the fire had destroyed about 140 homes in the region.

France deployed 1,400 firefighters to the Gironde fire and hundreds of others to another wildfire further south in the Landes region.