France has been battered by three heatwaves since May as part of increasingly common extreme weather episodes linked to climate change … and fuelling wildfires. The blaze in Le Porge, just south of Medoc wine country, had ripped through 2,400 hectares … since Wednesday, firefighters said. No casualties had been reported or homes destroyed so far. Skies in the coastal village of Le Porge, near the city of Bordeaux, were orange early on Thursday morning. Helicopters made repeated runs over houses with shuttered windows, as fire trucks rushed up and down the road. 12,000 people — tourists, as well as hundreds of residents living on the edge of the forest — had to evacuate. …Some 700 firefighters have been battling the flames on land, while several firefighting planes have been dumping water from the sky since the blaze erupted around midday on Wednesday. It then roared through the dense woodland, with flames soaring to 10 metres in some areas.