At least 3 dead and thousands displaced as wildfires rage across southern Europe
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Wildfires intensified across southern Europe on Wednesday after a nightlong battle to protect the perimeter of Greece's third-largest city, with at least three more deaths reported in Spain, Turkey and Albania.
Outside the Greek port city of Patras, firefighters struggled to protect homes and agricultural facilities as flames tore through olive groves.
As water-dropping planes and helicopters swooped overhead, residents joined the effort, beating back flames with cut branches or dousing them with buckets of water.
Firefighting resources were stretched thin in many affected countries as they battled multiple outbreaks following weeks of heat waves and temperature spikes across Mediterranean Europe.
Aircraft rotated between blazes on the western Greek mainland, the Patras area and the island of Zakynthos. Athens also sent assistance to neighboring Albania, joining an international effort to combat dozens of wildfires. An 80-year-old man died in one blaze south of the capital, Tirana, officials said Wednesday.
Residents of four villages were evacuated in central Albania near a former army ammunition depot. In the southern Korca district, near the Greek border, explosions were reported from buried World War II-era artillery shells.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed condolences after the death of a firefighting volunteer in the hard-hit Castile and León region north of Madrid, where thousands have been displaced by evacuations.
The government raised its national emergency response level, preparing additional support for regional authorities overseeing multiple evacuations and highway closures.
A forestry worker was also killed Wednesday while responding to a wildfire in southern Turkey, officials said. The Forestry Ministry said the worker died in an accident involving a fire truck that left four others injured.
Turkey has been battling severe wildfires since late June. A total of 18 people have been killed, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers who died in July.
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