'Looks like doomsday': Wildfires fanned by heatwave and strong winds rage across Europe
Authorities ordered residents of a town of about 7,700 people near Patras to leave on Tuesday and issued new alerts on Wednesday, advising residents of two nearby villages to relocate.
Greece battles to contain more than 20 wildfires, including one menacing its third-largest city, Patras. Source: AFP / Aris Messinis On the Greek islands of Chios, in the east, and Cephalonia, in the west, both popular with tourists, authorities told people to move to safety as fires spread. In Spain, a volunteer firefighter died from severe burns and several people were hospitalised as the state weather agency AEMET warned almost all of the country was at extreme or very high risk of fire. The 35-year-old man had been attempting to create firebreaks near the town of Nogarejas, in the central Castile and Leon region, when he was trapped in the blaze, regional officials said. He was the sixth person to die this year in wildfires in Spain.
Others include two firefighters in Tarragona and Avila, according to emergency services.
Working in unprepared landscapes puts firefighters' lives at risk, said Alexander Held, a senior expert in fire management at the European Forest Institute, adding authorities should prepare by creating buffer zones and clearing combustible vegetation. "Take an industrial building and imagine there would be no fire detectors, no sprinkler systems, no fire protection doors and no escape routes — firefighters would just refuse to go in, but in our landscape we expect them to do this," Held said. Investing 1 billion euros ($1.8 billion) a year in forest management could save 9.9 million hectares — an area the size of Portugal — and 99 billion euros ($177 billion) spent on fighting fires and restoration work afterwards, according to global environmental organisation, Greenpeace. Spanish environment minister Sara Aagesen told the SER radio station many fires across the country were thought to be the work of arsonists due to their "virulence".
A male firefighter was arrested for fires started in the Avila area north of Madrid two weeks ago, while police said they were investigating a 63-year-old woman for allegedly starting fires in Galicia's Muxia area.
Police have also identified a suspect who is believed to have suffered burns to his hands after starting a small fire in a beachfront development in the southern coastal Cadiz area, Europa Press reported. Thunderstorms have caused other fires. On Tuesday, Andalusia's fire department was flooded with calls by residents reporting a fire caused by a lightning strike on a chestnut and oak forest in Los Romeros, north of the city of Huelva. The fire prompted the relocation of about 250 residents, but was largely controlled by Wednesday morning. A blaze in Trancoso in Portugal that has been burning since Saturday worsened during the night as a lightning strike reignited an area that was thought safe, the civil protection service said. In Albania, defence minister Pirro Vengu said it was a "critical week", with several major wildfires burning across the country. About 10,000 firefighters, soldiers and police emergency units struggled with a total of 24 wildfires on Wednesday, the defence ministry said.
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Spain suffers third wildfire death, Greece beats back flames
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Wildfires caused by arsonists or thunderstorms and fanned by a heatwave and strong winds have wreaked destruction across southern Europe, burning homes and forcing thousands of residents and tourists to flee. Fire has affected nearly 440,000 hectares on the continent so far in 2025, double the average for the same period of the year since 2006, according to the European Union Science Hub's Joint Research Centre. Flames and dark smoke billowed over a cement factory that was set alight by a wildfire that swept through olive groves and forests and disrupted rail traffic on the outskirts of the Greek city of Patras, west of Athens. "What does it look like? It looks like doomsday. May God help us and help the people here," said Giorgos Karvanis, a volunteer who had come from Athens to Patras to help. Authorities ordered residents of a town of about 7,700 people near Patras to leave on Tuesday and issued new alerts on Wednesday, advising residents of two nearby villages to relocate. Greece battles to contain more than 20 wildfires, including one menacing its third-largest city, Patras. Source: AFP / Aris Messinis On the Greek islands of Chios, in the east, and Cephalonia, in the west, both popular with tourists, authorities told people to move to safety as fires spread. In Spain, a volunteer firefighter died from severe burns and several people were hospitalised as the state weather agency AEMET warned almost all of the country was at extreme or very high risk of fire. The 35-year-old man had been attempting to create firebreaks near the town of Nogarejas, in the central Castile and Leon region, when he was trapped in the blaze, regional officials said. He was the sixth person to die this year in wildfires in Spain. Others include two firefighters in Tarragona and Avila, according to emergency services. Working in unprepared landscapes puts firefighters' lives at risk, said Alexander Held, a senior expert in fire management at the European Forest Institute, adding authorities should prepare by creating buffer zones and clearing combustible vegetation. "Take an industrial building and imagine there would be no fire detectors, no sprinkler systems, no fire protection doors and no escape routes — firefighters would just refuse to go in, but in our landscape we expect them to do this," Held said. Investing 1 billion euros ($1.8 billion) a year in forest management could save 9.9 million hectares — an area the size of Portugal — and 99 billion euros ($177 billion) spent on fighting fires and restoration work afterwards, according to global environmental organisation, Greenpeace. Spanish environment minister Sara Aagesen told the SER radio station many fires across the country were thought to be the work of arsonists due to their "virulence". A male firefighter was arrested for fires started in the Avila area north of Madrid two weeks ago, while police said they were investigating a 63-year-old woman for allegedly starting fires in Galicia's Muxia area. Police have also identified a suspect who is believed to have suffered burns to his hands after starting a small fire in a beachfront development in the southern coastal Cadiz area, Europa Press reported. Thunderstorms have caused other fires. On Tuesday, Andalusia's fire department was flooded with calls by residents reporting a fire caused by a lightning strike on a chestnut and oak forest in Los Romeros, north of the city of Huelva. The fire prompted the relocation of about 250 residents, but was largely controlled by Wednesday morning. A blaze in Trancoso in Portugal that has been burning since Saturday worsened during the night as a lightning strike reignited an area that was thought safe, the civil protection service said. In Albania, defence minister Pirro Vengu said it was a "critical week", with several major wildfires burning across the country. About 10,000 firefighters, soldiers and police emergency units struggled with a total of 24 wildfires on Wednesday, the defence ministry said.
News.com.au
20 hours ago
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Thousands battle Greece, Spain and Portugal fires as heatwave bakes Europe
Greece battled a dozen major wildfires, including one threatening its third-largest city Patras, as a heatwave stoked blazes and forced the evacuation of thousands in southern Europe. 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. Greece Thousands of firefighters backed by the army deployed across Greece, with fire service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis saying 'the situation remains difficult' for 'forces waging a tough battle'. 'It's a cocktail of high temperatures, strong winds … and minimal humidity,' the head of civil protection for Western Greece, Nikos Gyftakis, told public broadcaster ERT. AFP journalists saw residents and firefighters backed by helicopters frantically attempt to douse flames in scrubland and forests outside Patras, with thick smoke reducing visibility. Officials evacuated 12 children from a Patras hospital, Vathrakogiannis said. Eighty elderly people were removed from a retirement home, and local media footage showed the roof of a nearby 17th-century monastery ablaze. Other fronts were burning on the popular Ionian tourist islands of Zante and Cephalonia and the Aegean island of Chios, scarred by a huge wildfire in June that ravaged more than 4,000 hectares. Around 20 villages were evacuated in the western Achaia region on Tuesday, while the Greek coastguard said nearly 80 people were removed from Chios and near Patras. Vathrakogiannis said 71 people had received medical care, mostly in the western town of Preveza and the Patras area. 'What does it look like? It looks like doomsday. May God help us and help the people here,' said Giorgos Karvanis, a volunteer told Reuters who had come from Athens to Patras to help. 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Strong gusts of wind had rekindled flames overnight and threatened nearby villages, where television images showed locals volunteering to help 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. A separate fire in a mountainous zone of Arganil in central Portugal smothered several villages with smoke, prompting the evacuation of elderly residents in particular. Balkans Dozens of blazes stretched emergency services in the Balkans, where a severe drought and a prolonged heatwave have exacerbated the region's traditional fire season. An 80-year-old man died in Albania late Tuesday after he lost control of a fire he had started in his garden. The blaze quickly spread to neighbouring homes, injuring eight people. Authorities have evacuated residents in parts of central and southern Albania, but easing weather conditions in neighbouring Montenegro helped firefighters protect homes. The country mourned a soldier who died in a water truck overturn near the capital Podgorica on Tuesday, with the defence ministry speaking of a 'heavy loss'. Britain Historically temperate Britain sweated through its fourth heatwave of the summer, with the previously unthinkable prospect of wildfires now a real threat. A blaze in northern England's North York Moors national park was declared a 'major incident' on Wednesday and covered around five square kilometres (nearly two square miles), firefighters said.
