At least 12 killed in wildfires across Turkey and Cyprus as heat soars

Irish Times

24-07-2025

Wildfires fuelled by soaring temperatures and strong winds across the eastern Mediterranean have left a dozen people dead in
Turkey
and
Cyprus
.
Ten forest workers and search and rescue volunteers were killed in Turkey's Eskisehir province and 14 others were hospitalised on Wednesday after being trapped by flames driven by rapidly shifting winds, Anadolu Agency reported.
Two people died in Cyprus, where authorities ordered evacuations after about 100 homes were burned.
Turkey's agriculture & forestry minister Ibrahim Yumakli warned of extremely dangerous conditions as a blast of Saharan air fuels a heatwave that has seen temperatures reach 50 degrees in southeastern provinces. Nine big wildfires ignited on Wednesday alone.
READ MORE
A burnt sign near the Cypriot village of Vouni, in the Limassol province, on Thursday. Photograph: Etienne Torbey/AFP via Getty Images
Wildfires have always affected the Mediterranean, but they have become a near constant summer threat as
climate change
creates more extreme weather patterns.
A string of heatwaves across Europe – the world's fastest-warming continent – have temporarily shut down tourist attractions like the Eiffel Tower and the Acropolis this summer, while disrupting transport and threatening the health of millions of vulnerable people.
In Cyprus, a blaze broke out in the Limassol district in the south of the island on Wednesday. Spain has sent two firefighting planes to help Cyprus, while Jordan is also providing assistance.
About 100 square kilometres have so far been burnt and more than a dozen aircraft will soon be assisting firefighters in bringing flare-ups in forest areas under control, fire service spokesman Andreas Kettis told state-run Cyprus News Agency.
An aerial view of burnt houses in the Cypriot village of Souni, Limassol province. Photograph: Etienne Torbey/AFP
Two people were found dead in a burnt-out vehicle, trapped by the fire. At least 10 people were injured, two of them seriously, police said.
Authorities said it was too early to give a precise account of damage, or what started the fire.
'We are talking about very strong winds, with gusts, which were constantly interchanging,' Mr Kettis said.
Highs in inland Cyprus were forecast to climb to 44 degrees on Thursday.
Fire risk will also increase across Greece, with strong northerly winds forecast on Friday and Saturday and temperatures of as high as 44 degrees. Weather warnings are being escalated, while night-time lows in cities will remain at up to 29 degrees.
Human development patterns and land use changes are putting more people at risk from wildfires, said Christophe Neff, a senior researcher at Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and expert in the region's fire ecology.
[
Cyprus wildfires: 'We'll no longer have this paradise'
Opens in new window
]
'Climate change will not only affect wildfire dynamics in Mediterranean ecosystems but also transform many regions in Europe into wildfire risk landscapes,' he said.
Heat and wildfire warnings have also been issued further north, in Finland and Norway. Alerts are also in place across the Iberian Peninsula and much of southeastern Europe, but a change in weather patterns is forecast to bring some relief by early August.
That change is already impacting northwest Europe, with 14 French regions, including Paris, covered by amber warnings for thunderstorms and floods. Rainfall of as much as 80 millimetres could impact some grain and wine-growing regions, with hail also hitting vines around Sancerre, according to Ici radio. – Bloomberg and Reuters