At least two dead as wildfires sweep across Greece, Turkey and France
Fast-moving flames, fanned by strong winds, crossed scrub-covered hillsides in the Keratea region of Greece, getting close to residential areas around 25 miles southeast of Athens on Friday.
One man was found dead in Keratea during an evacuation, the Fire Service said.
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Two Vietnamese tourists died after falling in the water amid strong winds on the tourist island of Milos in the Cyclades, France24.com said, quoting the Coastguard.
Authorities said 190 firefighters, using planes and helicopters to drop water, battled the blazes as thick clouds of black smoke filled the sky.
Wildfires in neighbouring Turkey forced the temporary closure of the Dardanelles Strait to shipping because of heavy smoke and reduced visibility in the narrow waterway.
A university campus and a care home for the elderly in northwestern Turkey were evacuated by authorities after another fire, which started in a field near Saricaeli village, in Canakkale province, quickly spread to a nearby forested area.
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Firefighters in France who contained the country's largest wildfire in decades are on high alert because it is feared forecast high temperatures this weekend could reignite it.
One person died as the blazes quickly burned more than 62 square miles in three days in the Aude wine region in southern France, where hundreds of residents were forced to leave their homes.
Local authorities said they need to remain vigilant throughout the weekend because temperatures are expected to rise above 30C (86F) during another heatwave.
Aude administrator Christian Pouget said 1,000 people had not yet been able to return to their homes after the fire swept through 15 communes in the Corbieres mountain region, destroying or damaging at least 36 homes.
One person died at home and at least 21 others were injured, including 16 firefighters, officials said.
Some 1,300 homes were still without electricity on Friday morning after infrastructure was extensively damaged, the Aude prefecture said.
Residents have been warned not to return home without permission, as many roads remain blocked and dangerous. Those forced to flee have been housed in emergency shelters across 17 municipalities.
Many fled to the community of Tuchan when the fire started on Tuesday, its mayor Beatrice Bertrand said.
"We have received and hosted over 200 people. We gave them food, thanks to local businesses who opened their stores despite it being very late," she said.
"Civil Protection brought us beds. And also the local villagers offered their homes to welcome them. It was their first night here and many were shocked and scared."
An investigation is under way into the cause of the fire.
Authorities said the fire was the largest recorded since France's national fire database was created in 2006, but the minister for ecological transition, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, went further, calling the blaze the worst since 1949 and linking it to climate change.
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Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Deadly Greek wildfire is battled by firefighters as strong winds raise spectre it could spread and could widespread devastation
Hundreds of firefighters battled a deadly wildfire near Athens for a second day on Saturday, with strong winds raising fears it could spread. A fire department spokesman said more than 260 firefighters with nearly 80 fire engines and 12 aircraft were deployed near Keratea, a rural area some 27 miles southeast of Athens. 'The fire has weakened but there are still active pockets,' the spokesman told AFP. A new fire broke out close to the nearby town of Kouvaras on Saturday but was quickly brought under control. Dimitris Loukas, mayor of the nearest city of Lavrio, said the Keratea fire that broke out Friday had devastated nearly 10,000 acres of brush and forest. 'Many homes were destroyed, in addition to other properties, agricultural and forest land,' he told state news agency ANA. The National Observatory in Athens on Saturday said the high winds will persist until at least Monday. Firefighters and police evacuated dozens of people late Friday from homes and an elderly care centre as the flames neared the coastal resort of Palaia Fokaia. Firefighters later found the remains of an elderly man in a hut near Keratea. He died in his bed, Loukas said. In the municipality of Palaia Fokaia, an hour's drive south of Athens, a typical bucolic Greek landscape of olive groves and hamlets was transformed by the raging Friday wildfire into a dystopia of blackened land and incinerated homes. A howling wind ripped through the settlement on Saturday, spread dust and the bitter smell of ash coming from the surrounding hills, where fires and smouldering embers continued to burn. At one gutted home - its caved-in roof nothing more than a tangle of warped metal - mask-wearing residents returned to retrieve whatever belongings survived the inferno. A despondent woman named Dimitria was more fortunate: the flames spared her home but razed the nearest forest, leaving it a desolate terrain of roasted trees and ash. 'From yesterday night, there were very few reinforcements from the fire brigade,' she lamented, describing how help arrived after the advancing fire threatened 'many houses' near the forest. 'My house is OK, but my forest is burned. And that is the pity,' she said with a trembling voice, her eyes welling up as she left to survey the damage. Firefighters with hoses combed through a copse of trees to douse any embers and prevent reactivations, scorched twigs and debris crunching under their boots. Gale-force winds on Friday also caused the deaths of two Vietnamese tourists who fell into the sea at Sarakiniko beach on the Cycladic island of Milos. The 61-year-old woman and 65-year-old man were on a cruise ship group visiting the lunar-like, volcanic rock beach, the coastguard said. A coastguard spokeswoman told AFP the woman had fallen into the water, and the man had tried to help her. Greece's national weather service EMY said winds of up to 46 miles an hour were forecast for Saturday. The weather on Friday disrupted ferry travel for tens of thousands of summer holidaymakers. A sailing ban on Athens ports was lifted Saturday. On Friday, wildfires also hit Italy's Mount Vesuvius, as deadly blazes continued to sweep through Europe amid a scorching heatwave. Dramatic footage shows flames engulfing the volcano in Naples as firefighters battle to control them. The blaze broke out on Friday afternoon, and firefighting teams both on the ground and in the air rushed to the scene. But, as the sun set, the operation was temporarily suspended for safety reasons. Raffaele De Luca, president of the Vesuvius National Park, expressed his deep concern about the fire's progress. 'We are following every update in constant contact with the relevant authorities. 'Our gratitude goes to those who are working tirelessly to protect our natural heritage and ensure the safety of those who live nearby.' The devastating wildfires have also struck Turkey, Greece, and France - triggered by hotter and drier conditions. It also comes after 1,500 tourists and locals were evacuated in Spain as a dramatic forest fire near a beach resort caused chaos in Tarifa, often branded a 'surfer's paradise' due to its extremely wide beaches and tall waves. According to the local police, the fire started in a motorhome at the Torre la Peña campsite, which also had to be evacuated. The flames then blew westward, away from the campsite, and spread rapidly through a hilly and grassland area where homes and tourist establishments are scattered - including the Wawa Hotel, which is reported to have been affected by the fire. Several beach bars and 'chiringuitos' were also evacuated due to the large amounts of ash being carried down to the shore.
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Reuters
3 hours ago
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Major French wildfire is unlikely to be under control until late on Sunday
PARIS, Aug 9 (Reuters) - A wildfire in the southern French prefecture of Aude is not expected to be under control until late on Sunday, the regional chief firefighter said on French television. The fire, which began Tuesday, is one of the largest recorded in France since 1949. Spread over 16,000 hectares (around 40,000 acres), it has led to one fatality, the injury of 19 firefighters and six civilians, and several dozen homes have been destroyed. "The fire is contained but not controlled. We still have hot spots (...) until Sunday evening the fire will not be brought under control," Colonel Christophe Magny told a news conference broadcast on BFM TV. All of the local departmental roads have been reopened, but the entrance into the wildfire zone is prohibited due to the risk of rekindling, the local French prefecture said in a statement on Saturday. French authorities have attributed the fire to the impact of climate change. An orange heatwave warning - the second highest warning level that encourages people to remain vigilant - is in effect for the department until midnight on Sunday, the prefecture said. Before the fire began, the region's wine growers had dug up an extensive area of their vineyards, which traditionally serve as a natural, moisture-retentive firebreak, as declining wine consumption and subsidies have reduced profits.
