‘We are being cooked alive' – wildfires rage amid heatwave across Europe

Irish Independent

a day ago

Global warming is giving the Mediterranean region hotter, drier summers, scientists say, with wildfires surging each year and sometimes whipping up into 'whirls'.
'We are being cooked alive – this cannot continue,' said Alexandre Favaois, mayor of Vila Real, Portugal. A large wildfire has been burning on the edges of the city for days.
On the outskirts of the Spanish capital Madrid, a man working at a horse stable died in a fire that reached some houses and farms, but was later contained.
A man also died in a fire in Albania, and a 61-year-old Hungarian seasonal worker is suspected to have died of heat-related causes while picking fruit in Lleida, in Spain's eastern Catalonia region.
In Montenegro's mountainous Kuci area – north-east of the capital, Podgorica – one soldier was killed and another badly injured when a water tanker they were operating overturned, the defence ministry said.
In Tarifa, on the southernmost tip of the Iberian peninsula, beachgoers and celebrity chef Jose Andres filmed flames and black smoke on the hills above whitewashed villas. More than 2,000 people were evacuated from there as the fire – believed to have started in eucalyptus and pine forests – spread. Helicopters doused the blaze with seawater.
Authorities in Albania, Montenegro, Germany, Spain, Italy and France issued various types of heat warnings.
In Spain, according to meteorology service AEMET, temperatures reached 44C in some regions, with minimal rainfall and windy conditions expected to exacerbate the fire risk.
Spain's interior ministry has put national services on standby, while almost 1,000 members of the armed forces are already supporting firefighting.
The country's rail operator said trains between Galicia and Madrid were halted because of a fire.
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In Spain's largest region, Castile and Leon, more than 1,200 firefighters battled 32 wildfires yesterday, and thousands of residents were told to leave their homes.
Meanwhile, police said they had arrested a firefighter near the walled city of Avila, north-west of Madrid, who had confessed to starting a fire two weeks ago because of the potential income from work extinguishing it.
It's been 10 days that our population is in panic, without knowing when the fire will knock on their door
In north Portugal, more than 1,300 firefighters – backed by 16 aircraft –were battling three large fires.
One of the fires – that on the outskirts of Vila Real – has been burning for 10 days.
'It's been 10 days that our population is in panic, without knowing when the fire will knock on their door,' Mr Favaios told broadcaster RTP, pleading for more government help.
In Albania, swathes of forest and farmland have been burnt by wildfires in the past week, and 30 separate fires continue to burn, stoked by strong winds.
The country's defence ministry said four army helicopters and 80 soldiers were helping firefighters.
It also reported the death of a man suspected of having started a fire – which eventually spread across a wider area – in his backyard.
In neighbouring Montenegro, authorities backed by helicopters from Serbia and Croatia contained a wildfire near the capital on Tuesday, with the capital covered by smoke.
The memories that burned in these four rooms and the attic cannot be compensated
In the village of Gornja Vrbica, residents helped firefighters stop a fire from reaching a local church and cemetery, Pobjeda – a daily Montenegrin newspaper – reported.
More help was expected from Austria, Slovenia and Italy under the EU civil protection mechanism.
Dragana Vukovic, whose house in Piperi, Montenegro, was reduced to ruins, told Reuters: 'Everything that can be paid for and bought will be compensated, but the memories that burned in these four rooms and the attic cannot be compensated.'
In Greece, wildfires that were in some cases fanned by gale-force winds forced evacuations in four parts of the mainland, and on the islands of Zakynthos and Cephalonia.
A wildfire in the southern Greek region of Achaia forced residents of five villages near an industrial zone to flee, while 85 firefighters and 10 aircraft tried to stop a fire from reaching houses near the western Greek town of Vonitsa.
The picture was similar in Turkey, where a large blaze in the north-western province of Canakkale burned for a second day, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents.