Southern Europe Battles Deadly Wildfires
Extreme temperatures have gripped much of the region since Friday, fueling fires that had claimed at least two lives in recent days. On Wednesday, the toll continued to climb.
At least four more people were confirmed dead from the blazes, which were burning in Spain, Greece, Turkey, Montenegro and Albania. Dozens of people, including firefighters, have been injured.
The authorities in Greece have deployed nearly 5,000 firefighters and 62 aircraft, along with several Coast Guard vessels, and they warned on Wednesday of a 'very difficult' day ahead.
'A very high fire risk is predicted for most areas of the country,' Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis, the country's fire service spokesman, said in a Greek-language statement.
He said that strong winds were blowing on the popular tourist island of Chios, where a fire had split into two fronts that were nearing residential areas. High winds were also complicating firefighting efforts in Preveza, a city on the western coast, and in Patras, in the northern part of the Peloponnese.
Spain has also been hard hit by wildfires this week amid dangerous temperatures that have dried out vegetation across the region, making already arid places even more combustible.
At least 14 active fires were burning on Wednesday, the minister of ecological transition, Sara Aagesen, said in an interview on Cadena SER radio. The country's national military emergency unit said in a post on X that at least 1,000 soldiers had been deployed to help fight the fires.
Local officials said a 35-year-old volunteer had died fighting the fire in the region of Castilla y León, while seven other people were seriously injured and 8,200 had been evacuated in the region.
At least 15 people were injured in the fires in Galicia, the regional emergency services said in a post on X.
In Turkey, the interior minister said on Tuesday night that about 1,800 emergency workers and 19 aircraft were battling a blaze in the coastal city of Canakkale. On Wednesday, the government's chief spokesman, Burhanettin Duran, said that a man had been killed when a fire truck overturned.
Casualties tied to wildfires were also reported in Montenegro, where the defense ministry said an army sergeant had died and another was seriously injured when the water tanker they were driving overturned, and in Albania, where the government said at least one person died.
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