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France has been hit by a series of heat waves this summer that began in May. There have been searing temperatures across the country. At one point, it was hotter in Brittany and Normandy in northwestern France than down on the Mediterranean coast.

The summer has also seen wildfires in many parts of France, particularly in the southwest and the south, but also in the forest at Fontainebleau outside Paris. What can be done about it? Can “fire modeling” help?

Reporting from Paris deputy editor Elaine Cobbe speaks to Aurélien Costes, a fire scientist from Bordeaux, and Météo France weather forecaster Olivier Proust.

Elaine Cobbe is an award-winning print and broadcast journalist based in Paris. A former foreign correspondent with CBS News, she has covered many of the major international stories of the past three decades, including the conflicts in Iraq, Kosovo, and Rwanda, and terror attacks in Paris, Brussels, and Barcelona. A regular commentator on French and international politics for news outlets in France and her native Ireland, she is also a researcher and trainer in journalism and trauma. Elaine is a committee member of the Anglo-American Press Association of Paris.

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