A major wildfire that ravaged pine forests in a tourist-beloved area of southwestern France has stopped expanding after rain fell and firefighters worked Sunday to tame it.
Ronan Léaustic, an official in the Gironde region, said 8,000 evacuated residents have been authorized to come back home.
The fire in the Gironde and Landes regions has burned more than 74 square kilometers (29 square miles) since Tuesday.
Marc Vermeulen, commander of the Gironde fire brigade, said the blaze is not extinguished yet and is still burning underground, where there is a lot of peat. Roads in the area have been reopened to residents only and going into the forest remains forbidden.
