French authorities are fighting wildfires, keeping an eye on isolated elderly populations and advising people to drink fluids as temperatures soar. Heat wave warnings were issued for a swath of central and southern France, from Burgundy to the Pyrenees. Temperatures are expected to reach up to 104 degrees in some areas.

The government is determined to avoid a repeat of the summer of 2003, when about 15,000 people died during a heat wave. Wildfires raged near Lacanau in the southwest on Thursday. Patrick Stefanini, a prefect for the Aquitaine region, said that they were brought under control Friday morning.

Source: The Associated Press