Record heat hits tourists, schools, hospitals in France

PARIS-The Associated Press

Schools are spraying kids with water and nursing homes are equipping the elderly with hydration sensors as France battles a record-setting heat wave baking much of Europe.

The French national weather service activated its highest-level heat danger alert for the first time, putting four regions around Marseille and Montpellier in southern France under special watch.

Temperatures in the area are forecast to reach up to 44 degrees Celsius (111 F).

Some schools closed because they couldn't ensure safe conditions. Teachers at the Victor Hugo primary school in Colombes near Paris have abandoned suffocating classrooms and are keeping children outside all day, sprinkling them with water and organizing quiet activities in the shade.

Italy put 16 cities under alerts for high temperatures, and civil security services distributed water to tourists visiting famed sites around Rome under a scorching sun.