Thousands battle Greece fires as heatwave bakes Europe
Since dawn on Wednesday, 4,850 firefighters and 33 planes were mobilised across Greece on what promised to be "a very difficult day", fire service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said. A fire near the ancient Mycenaean archaeological site of Voudeni, just seven kilometres (four miles) from Patras, threatened forested zones and homes, and the area was covered by a thick cloud of smoke, a journalist reported.
Fierce wind "is hampering the task of water bombers, and is making collecting water at sea more difficult", the president of the firefighter officers' union, Kostas Tsigkas, told public broadcaster ERT. In the western Achaia region in the Peloponnese, to which the coastal city of Patras belongs, around 20 villages were evacuated on Tuesday. Other fronts were burning on the popular tourist island of Zante and the Aegean island of Chios, scarred by a huge wildfire in June that ravaged more than 4,000 hectares.
The Greek coastguard said it had helped evacuate nearly 80 people from Chios and near Patras. The national ambulance service reported 52 hospitalisations from Achaia, Chios and the western town of Preveza, including "a small number of firefighters", mostly for respiratory problems and minor burns.
Temperatures are due to come close to 40C in parts of western Greece on Wednesday, including the northwest Peloponnese, national weather service EMY forecast. After Greece requested four water bombers from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to bolster its resources, leftist opposition party Syriza criticised the conservative government's preparation for the fires that hit every year. Greece needed "a bold redistribution of resources in favour of civil protection", an "emphasis on prevention", better coordination and new technologies in its civil protection system, Syriza said.
At the other end of the Mediterranean, wildfires continued to dominate the news in Spain, where cooler temperatures and greater humidity were expected to help control blazes in which two people have died. Authorities in the northwestern region of Castile and Leon, where flames have threatened a world heritage Roman mining site, said almost 6,000 people from 26 localities had been evacuated from their homes. A total of 199 wildfires have scorched nearly 98,784 hectares across Spain this year, more than double the area burned during the same period in 2024. — AFP
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a day ago
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Thousands battle Greece fires as heatwave bakes Europe
PATRAS: Greece on Wednesday battled to contain more than 20 wildfires, including one menacing its third-largest city Patras, as a heatwave stoked blazes and forced the evacuation of thousands in southern Europe. Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, the Balkans and Britain have this week wilted in high temperatures that fuel wildfires and which scientists say human-induced climate change is intensifying. Since dawn on Wednesday, 4,850 firefighters and 33 planes were mobilised across Greece on what promised to be "a very difficult day", fire service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said. A fire near the ancient Mycenaean archaeological site of Voudeni, just seven kilometres (four miles) from Patras, threatened forested zones and homes, and the area was covered by a thick cloud of smoke, a journalist reported. Fierce wind "is hampering the task of water bombers, and is making collecting water at sea more difficult", the president of the firefighter officers' union, Kostas Tsigkas, told public broadcaster ERT. In the western Achaia region in the Peloponnese, to which the coastal city of Patras belongs, around 20 villages were evacuated on Tuesday. Other fronts were burning on the popular tourist island of Zante and the Aegean island of Chios, scarred by a huge wildfire in June that ravaged more than 4,000 hectares. The Greek coastguard said it had helped evacuate nearly 80 people from Chios and near Patras. The national ambulance service reported 52 hospitalisations from Achaia, Chios and the western town of Preveza, including "a small number of firefighters", mostly for respiratory problems and minor burns. Temperatures are due to come close to 40C in parts of western Greece on Wednesday, including the northwest Peloponnese, national weather service EMY forecast. After Greece requested four water bombers from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to bolster its resources, leftist opposition party Syriza criticised the conservative government's preparation for the fires that hit every year. Greece needed "a bold redistribution of resources in favour of civil protection", an "emphasis on prevention", better coordination and new technologies in its civil protection system, Syriza said. At the other end of the Mediterranean, wildfires continued to dominate the news in Spain, where cooler temperatures and greater humidity were expected to help control blazes in which two people have died. Authorities in the northwestern region of Castile and Leon, where flames have threatened a world heritage Roman mining site, said almost 6,000 people from 26 localities had been evacuated from their homes. A total of 199 wildfires have scorched nearly 98,784 hectares across Spain this year, more than double the area burned during the same period in 2024. — AFP
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