Europe's spate of fierce wildfires abated somewhat amid cooler temperatures, with French firefighters starting to get the upper hand over two major blazes, Spain taming a fire that killed two people and no new outbreaks reported in Portugal.
But a fire in Slovenia on the border with Italy kicked up strongly this week, forcing the evacuation of three villages.
Spanish firefighters were tackling nine blazes, with two said to be especially dangerous in the northwestern Galicia region. Some of the 11,000 people evacuated because of the fires in Spain began returning home, and a major highway in the northwestern Zamora province reopened after two days.
![In the Gironde region of southwest France, two massive fires feeding on tinder-dry pine forests also have forced thousands of people to flee homes since they broke out on July 12. Photo / AP](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/D6ATY6TODFGE6NCADQ6WJABIFI.jpg?auth=321ce35cdc01a592d860f171d5d29641a25dbc582ec6211181cc52645d064462&width=16&height=11&quality=70&smart=true)
Temperatures above 40C and a drought have worsened Spain's wildfires this year. Thursday's highest temperature in Spain was forecast to be 32C.