ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A prolonged heat wave and lack of rainfall led to the driest July in England and Wales in nearly two centuries of record-keeping, according to provisional statistics, the U.K.’s weather service said Monday .

All of Wales and more than half of England are officially in drought, the Met Office said.

The dry spell was accompanied with sweltering temperatures across much of the U.K., following heat waves in May and June.

Wales tied its record for its warmest mean temperature for July while England and the U.K. recorded their second-warmest July.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Water-dropping planes swooped over a major wildfire west of Athens Monday as strong winds eased, a day after a midair collision between two firefighting helicopters killed two crew members.

Gales at the weekend hampered firefighting efforts along mountainous and coastal areas while also allowing flames to spread more rapidly, but authorities said Monday the situation was improving.

A Greek and a Danish national died and two others were hospitalized in the helicopter collision. All four were private operators chartered by the Greek firefighting service.

Authorities warned areas surrounding Athens remained at high risk. More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from the region, including more than 250 rescued by boats from beaches in the area.

As parts of southern Europe continued to struggle with high temperatures, firefighters in France guarded against potential flare-ups inside a still-burning scar four times the size of Paris.

Easing winds help halt the advance of the flames

Strong winds eased Monday, allowing the deployment of 12 water-dropping planes and 11 helicopters around the fire-hit Greek seaside resort of Porto Germenos where multiple evacuations have been ordered.

“To put it in a headline: conditions are better but we are pressing forward because there are still multiple points of activity,” Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios said. “This is a difficult fire that has troubled us.”

The blaze was blamed on a faulty power line from a wind farm and led to the arrests of two contractors on charges of negligent arson.

Despite improved detection methods and an expanded cooperation among European Union members, Greece and other countries along Europe's Mediterranean coast suffer devastating wildfires every summer as spells of heat wave temperatures grow longer.

Europe is Earth’s fastest-warming continent, heating at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate service. Rising temperatures and prolonged drought leave vegetation drier and more combustible, allowing fires to spread faster and burn more intensely.

Massive blaze in France contained as evacuees return home

In France, thousands of evacuees were allowed to return home and or to holiday accommodation Monday after a massive wildfire remained contained. More than 224,000 people had fled in what officials said was the country’s largest civilian evacuation outside wartime.

The wildfire burned about 420 square kilometers (162 square miles), making it France’s largest wildfire on record. Monday's return includes Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourist hot spot along the Atlantic coast, and Le Porge, the municipality hardest hit by the fire, where 183 homes were destroyed. Campsites remain closed.

A second wildfire in Provence did not flare up overnight, but was still not contained Monday as stronger winds were expected, firefighters and authorities said. About 1,500 firefighters, supported by water-dropping helicopters, continued reinforcing fire lines along the blaze that tore through about 18 square kilometers (7 square miles).

The European Forest Fire Information System said the risk of wildfire remains high across parts of the continent through Aug. 5, including traditional cooler northern countries.

Firefighters in the Netherlands were battling a large blaze Monday in a forest in the southern province of Limburg, authorities said, as the country sweltered though another day of hot, dry summer weather. The national railway operator halted trains between two towns in the area due to the fire.

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Corbet reported from Paris. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Thomas Adamson in Paris and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands contributed.