Thousands battle Greek wildfires as flames descend on third-largest city and tourists are evacuated

Daily Mail​

16 hours ago

Greece on Wednesday battled to contain more than 20 wildfires, with flames descending on its third-largest city and forcing thousands of evacuations as a scorching heatwave continues to tear through Europe.
Residents and tourists today fled the popular holiday islands of Zakynthos and Cephalonia as fires ripped through houses and farmland.
A blaze near the ancient Mycenaean archaeological site of Voudeni, just four miles from Patras, Greece 's third-largest city, threatened forested zones and homes, while 7,700 people were evacuated from a nearby town.
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.
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.
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.
Wildfires have continued to rip through 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.
Bushy undergrowth and searing temperatures that have baked Spain for almost two weeks had created 'the worst possible breeding ground for this situation', Castile and Leon's civil protection head Irene Cortes said.
Burned cars are seen at an impound lot in Kato Achaia, during a wildfire near Patras city, western Greece, Wednesday, Aug. 13
Madrid was hit by fireballs on Monday night as a hellish blaze fuelled by strong winds burned several houses in the capital's suburbs.
At least 180 people were evacuated overnight from Tres Cantos, an affluent suburb northeast of Madrid, after wildfires tore through homes and farmland.
A farmer who had been taken by helicopter to the La Paz hospital after suffering burns on 98 percent of his body, later died, the Community of Madrid confirmed on Tuesday.
He reportedly sustained his injuries while trying to rescue 27 horses, who were also killed in the blaze.
Spanish authorities said today a 35-year-old volunteer firefighter died on Tuesday while trying to extinguish a wildfire.
Kings College, a prestigious British private school, is also understood to have suffered some damage, and a donkey shelter burned down.
Due to the speed of winds, the flames quickly spread and reached the Norman pharmaceutical laboratories, where sounds of explosions were reportedly heard.
'In barely 40 minutes, the fire advanced six kilometres,' Carlos Novillo, Madrid's regional environment chief, told reporters.
Screengrab shows hellish wildfires last night lighting up Madrid's skyline
The inferno then spread to the adjacent affluent suburbs of Fuente del Fresno and Soto de Viñuelas, where residents remained on evacuation alerts overnight.
Footage shared on social media showed how flames spread through forested areas, while thick smoke billowed into the sky.
Other videos showed how strong winds pushed blazes across fields as fire services rushed to contain the inferno.
Firefighters managed to contain the wildfire near the Spanish capital by Tuesday morning thanks to favourable overnight conditions, regional authorities said.
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.
Neighbouring Portugal deployed more than 1,800 firefighters and around 20 aircraft against five major blazes, with efforts focused on a blaze in the central municipality of Trancoso that has raged since Saturday.
Strong gusts of wind had rekindled flames overnight and threatened nearby villages, where television images showed locals volunteering to help the firefighters under a thick cloud of smoke.
'It's scary... but we are always ready to help each other,' a mask-wearing farmer told Sic Noticias television, holding a spade in his hand.
Italian firefighters had extinguished a blaze that burned for five days on the famed Mount Vesuvius and spewed plumes of smoke over the Naples area.
In Britain, temperatures were expected to peak at 34C in the country's fourth heatwave of the summer.
The UK Health Security Agency warned of 'significant impacts' on health and social care services for the parts of central and southeastern England where the harshest heat was forecast.