Firefighters battle France's biggest wildfire since 1949

Firefighters are continuing to battle a huge fire in southern France, the biggest the country has seen in 76 years.

A 65-year-old woman has died, and at least a dozen other people have been injured since the blaze first broke out on August 5.

Around 130 square kilometers have been burnt, and on August 7 the countryside was still burning, though local authorities said the blaze was no longer spreading.

The fire is in the region of Aude, in the south of the country near the Pyrenees mountains. So far, an area bigger than Paris has been ravaged by flames.

On August 7, the army was brought in to help the more than 1,000 firefighters tackling the blaze on the ground and from the skies.

Four Canadair water-dropping planes, and helicopters carrying underslung water-bombs, have been working through massive clouds of smoke to try to dampen the flames.

The French prime minister François Bayrou visited the scene on August 6 and said "It's a catastrophe of an unprecedented scale. This is a time when climate change is causing events the likes of which we've never seen before."

For some people in the region though, it is already too late. Some houses were left in ashes as the fire swept through.

The first week of August is the height of the summer tourist season, but holidays have been cut short as campsites have been shut, roads closed, and some people moved to safety.

Unfortunately for the authorities, the weather conditions show no signs of easing nationwide.

France is in the midst of another summer heatwave, with temperatures in Paris set to hit 36 degrees Celsius early next week.

The Aude region that has been impacted by the fire is already very dry and there is no rain in sight – with highs of 41 degrees Celsius expected in the coming days.