Thousands forced from their homes as wildfires rage amid temperatures over 40C
And a soldier in the Balkan country of Montenegro died and another was seriously injured when their water tanker overturned while fighting wildfires in the hills north of the capital, Podgorica.
A child died of heatstroke in Italy on Tuesday.
The equestrian centre employee was the first fatality from dozens of wildfires that have hit Spain since a heatwave began last week.
Hundreds of residents of Tres Cantos fled from the fast-moving blaze, which was contained today.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X that rescue services were 'working tirelessly to extinguish the fires' and warned: 'We are at extreme risk of forest fires. Please be very cautious.'
Saved at 'last second'
Elsewhere, about 2000 people were evacuated from hotels and homes near the popular beaches of Tarifa in Andalusia, southern Spain.
The wildfire broke out near where a similar blaze forced evacuations earlier this month.
'We managed to save the residential area at the very last second,' said Antonio Sanz, the Andalusia region's Interior Minister.
In Castile and Leon, dozens of blazes were reported, including one threatening Las Medulas, a Unesco World Heritage site known for its ancient Roman gold mines.
The head of the regional Government of Castile and Leon, Alfonso Fernandez Manueco, vowed 'to act quickly and generously' once the fire is over to restore the site 'to its full glory as soon as possible'.
In neighbouring Portugal, firefighters battled three large wildfires, with the most serious near Trancoso in the centre of the country. More than 700 firefighters were deployed there.
Firefighters are at the forefront to help contain the wildfires. Photo / Miguel Riopa, AFP
Church bells rang out in Mendo Gordo, a hamlet near Trancoso, to sound the alarm as a thick column of smoke rose in the distance, images broadcast on Portuguese television showed.
Smoke and greenhouse gas emissions related to forest fires since the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere are among the highest ever recorded, according to the European Union climate monitor Copernicus.
'Too hot'
Temperature records were broken at four weather stations in southern France yesterday and three-quarters of the country was under heat alerts today, with temperatures forecast to top 40C in the Rhone Valley. The Rhone department banned outdoor public events.
Temperatures started rising at the weekend in France's second heatwave in just a few weeks and could remain high into next week, according to the national weather office Meteo-France.
That would make it a 12- to 14-day stretch of extreme heat.
'It's already too hot,' said Alain Bichot, 34, as he sat at a cafe terrace early today in Dijon in eastern France.
'I would rather just go to the office. At least there is air conditioning there.'
Eleven Italian cities, including Rome, Milan, and Florence, were placed on red alert because of the heat.
In Montenegro, fire crews aided by military personnel were fighting a blaze around Podgorica for a second day when the water truck flipped, killing the soldier, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Authorities warned residents to stay indoors because of smoke from a forest fire raging in the hills above Podgorica.
Hundreds of soldiers and firefighters were also battling wildfires in Albania, while Greece has requested EU assistance to battle more than 100 wildfires stoked by fierce winds and dry conditions on its territory.
Athens has requested four water bombers from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism after evacuating 20 villages in the Achaia region.
More than half (52%) of Europe and the Mediterranean basin was hit by drought in July for the fourth consecutive month, according to an AFP analysis of European Drought Observatory (EDO) data.
Drought levels in the region are the highest on record for the month of July since data collection began in 2012, exceeding the 2012-2024 average by 21%.
- Agence France-Presse
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
17 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Typhoon Podul's fierce path leaves thousands without power in Taiwan
Typhoon Podul weakened to a severe tropical storm after hitting southeastern China and Taiwan. Photo / I-Hwa Cheng, AFP Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Already a subscriber? Sign in here Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen. Typhoon Podul weakened to a severe tropical storm after hitting southeastern China and Taiwan. Photo / I-Hwa Cheng, AFP Typhoon Podul weakened to a severe tropical storm when it roared ashore in southeastern China, state media said, after carving a path across Taiwan, shutting down businesses, grounding flights and knocking out power to thousands of homes. Podul made its second landfall in Fujian province's Zhangpu County, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said, citing the provincial meteorological observatory, reporting maximum sustained winds of 108km/h. Wind gusts of up to 178km/h were recorded shortly before the typhoon slammed into Taiwan's Taitung County, the country's Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. One person is missing after he went fishing and was swept away, and 112 have been injured, disaster officials said. More than 8000 people were evacuated from their homes.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
'Cooked alive': Crews tackle wildfires as heatwave bakes Europe
Firefighters across Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and the Balkans were battling wildfires on Tuesday (local time), with another heatwave pushing temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) across parts of Europe. 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 a mayor in Portugal, Alexandre Favaios, as three fires burned. On the outskirts of the Spanish capital Madrid, a fire killed a man working at a horse stable and reached some houses and farms but had been contained, regional authorities said. A man also died in a fire in Albania, while 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, northeast of the capital Podgorica, one army 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 2000 people were evacuated from there as the fire - believed to have started in eucalyptus and pine forests - spread, officials said. Helicopters doused the blaze with seawater. Authorities in Albania, Montenegro, Germany, Spain, Italy and France issued various types of heat warnings. In Spain, temperatures reached 44C in some regions, according to meteorology service AEMET, with minimal rainfall and windy conditions expected to exacerbate the fire risk. SPANISH MILITARY HELPS Spain's Interior Ministry has put national services on standby, while almost 1000 members of the armed forces are already supporting firefighting. The country's rail operator said trains between northwestern Galicia and Madrid were halted because of a fire. In Spain's largest region, Castile and Leon, more than 1200 firefighters battled 32 wildfires on Tuesday and thousands of residents were told to leave their homes. Meanwhile, police said they had arrested a firefighter near the walled city of Avila northwest of Madrid, and he had confessed to starting a fire two weeks ago because of the potential income from work extinguishing it. In north Portugal, more than 1300 firefighters backed by 16 aircraft were battling three large fires. One of them, in the Vila Real area, 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," local mayor 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 Defence Ministry said four army helicopters and 80 soldiers were helping firefighters. It also reported the death of a man suspected of having started in his backyard a fire that spread across a wider area. In neighbouring Montenegro, authorities backed by helicopters from Serbia and Croatia contained a wildfire near Podgorica on Tuesday, with the capital covered by smoke. In Gornja Vrbica, residents helped firefighters stop a fire from reaching a local church and cemetery, Pobjeda daily reported. More help was expected from Austria, Slovenia and Italy under the EU civil protection mechanism. Dragana Vukovic, whose house in southeastern Piperi 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." 'OUT OF CONTROL' In Greece at Europe's southernmost tip, wildfires in some cases fanned by gale-force winds forced the evacuation of several villages and a hotel on the tourist islands of Zakynthos and Cephalonia in the Ionian Sea along with four other parts of the mainland. 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 northwestern province of Canakkale burned for a second day, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents.
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Thousands forced from their homes as wildfires rage amid temperatures over 40C
Later, officials in Castile and Leon in northwestern Spain confirmed another man had been killed while fighting fires. And a soldier in the Balkan country of Montenegro died and another was seriously injured when their water tanker overturned while fighting wildfires in the hills north of the capital, Podgorica. A child died of heatstroke in Italy on Tuesday. The equestrian centre employee was the first fatality from dozens of wildfires that have hit Spain since a heatwave began last week. Hundreds of residents of Tres Cantos fled from the fast-moving blaze, which was contained today. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on X that rescue services were 'working tirelessly to extinguish the fires' and warned: 'We are at extreme risk of forest fires. Please be very cautious.' Saved at 'last second' Elsewhere, about 2000 people were evacuated from hotels and homes near the popular beaches of Tarifa in Andalusia, southern Spain. The wildfire broke out near where a similar blaze forced evacuations earlier this month. 'We managed to save the residential area at the very last second,' said Antonio Sanz, the Andalusia region's Interior Minister. In Castile and Leon, dozens of blazes were reported, including one threatening Las Medulas, a Unesco World Heritage site known for its ancient Roman gold mines. The head of the regional Government of Castile and Leon, Alfonso Fernandez Manueco, vowed 'to act quickly and generously' once the fire is over to restore the site 'to its full glory as soon as possible'. In neighbouring Portugal, firefighters battled three large wildfires, with the most serious near Trancoso in the centre of the country. More than 700 firefighters were deployed there. Firefighters are at the forefront to help contain the wildfires. Photo / Miguel Riopa, AFP Church bells rang out in Mendo Gordo, a hamlet near Trancoso, to sound the alarm as a thick column of smoke rose in the distance, images broadcast on Portuguese television showed. Smoke and greenhouse gas emissions related to forest fires since the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere are among the highest ever recorded, according to the European Union climate monitor Copernicus. 'Too hot' Temperature records were broken at four weather stations in southern France yesterday and three-quarters of the country was under heat alerts today, with temperatures forecast to top 40C in the Rhone Valley. The Rhone department banned outdoor public events. Temperatures started rising at the weekend in France's second heatwave in just a few weeks and could remain high into next week, according to the national weather office Meteo-France. That would make it a 12- to 14-day stretch of extreme heat. 'It's already too hot,' said Alain Bichot, 34, as he sat at a cafe terrace early today in Dijon in eastern France. 'I would rather just go to the office. At least there is air conditioning there.' Eleven Italian cities, including Rome, Milan, and Florence, were placed on red alert because of the heat. In Montenegro, fire crews aided by military personnel were fighting a blaze around Podgorica for a second day when the water truck flipped, killing the soldier, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. Authorities warned residents to stay indoors because of smoke from a forest fire raging in the hills above Podgorica. Hundreds of soldiers and firefighters were also battling wildfires in Albania, while Greece has requested EU assistance to battle more than 100 wildfires stoked by fierce winds and dry conditions on its territory. Athens has requested four water bombers from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism after evacuating 20 villages in the Achaia region. More than half (52%) of Europe and the Mediterranean basin was hit by drought in July for the fourth consecutive month, according to an AFP analysis of European Drought Observatory (EDO) data. Drought levels in the region are the highest on record for the month of July since data collection began in 2012, exceeding the 2012-2024 average by 21%. - Agence France-Presse
