Wildfires scorch Greece as heatwave grips parts of Europe

Al Jazeera

20 hours ago

Greece is facing its hardest days yet of this year's wildfire season, a senior firefighting official said, after dozens of new blazes erupted in a single day and extreme weather hampers extinguishing efforts.
Strong winds, prolonged dryness and intense heat have worsened conditions across much of the mainland and on the islands, forcing evacuations and dramatic rescue operations in recent days.
Kostas Tsingas, head of the fire brigade officers' association, told broadcaster ERT News on Wednesday that 82 new fires were recorded across the country the previous day, a number he called 'exceptionally high'.
The situation is particularly dangerous near the western city of Patras, on the hard-hit Peloponnese peninsula, where two large fires are burning.
Major blazes are also raging in the region of Preveza in the northwest, as well as on the islands of Zakynthos and Chios.
On Chios, the coastguard picked up dozens of people at the small harbour of Limnia because the smoke was so intense.
Some 13 firefighters have been treated for burns and other injuries, fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told a televised briefing on Wednesday.
Nearly 5,000 firefighters assisted by 33 aircraft were deployed since dawn to contain the flames stoked by winds and hot, dry conditions near Patras, on the tourist islands of Chios and Zakynthos and in at least three inland spots.
'Today, it will be another very difficult day, as the wildfire risk for most of the country's regions will be very high,' Vathrakogiannis said. Temperatures were forecast to reach 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 Fahrenheit) in some places.
Greece has requested help from fellow European Union members and applied for four firefighting aircraft through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
Hundreds evacuated
Elsewhere in Europe, heat alerts were issued in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Balkans on Tuesday, with temperatures expected to soar above 40C (104F) in some regions.
Europe has been battling wildfires for weeks now, with smoke and greenhouse gas emissions related to forest fires since the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere among the highest ever recorded, according to the EU climate monitor Copernicus.
In Spain, an employee of a Spanish equestrian centre died from his injuries in Tres Cantos, a wealthy suburb north of Madrid, officials said on Tuesday. Later, officials in Castile and Leon in northwestern Spain confirmed another man was killed while fighting fires.
About 2,000 people were evacuated from hotels and homes near the popular beaches of Tarifa in Andalusia, southern Spain after a wildfire broke out.
In the Castile and Leon region, 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 Alfonso Fernandez Manueco pledged 'to act quickly and generously' once the fire is over to restore the site 'to its full glory as soon as possible'.
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.'
In Spain's region of Galicia, low rainfall and strong winds have made firefighting efforts more difficult, said Al Jazeera's Felix Nyawara.
'I'm so sorry because there are lots of animals up … that will also get burned [if] no one … finds them,' Mari Carmen, a Spanish resident of Galicia, told Al Jazeera.
Heat grips the Balkans
In Montenegro, a soldier died and another was seriously injured when their water tanker overturned while fighting wildfires in the hills north of the capital, Podgorica.
Police in Albania said an 80-year-old man died from smoke inhalation on Tuesday after he lit a blaze in his yard that spread out of control to nearby villages in Elbasan district's Gramsh area.
In Italy, a child died of heatstroke on Monday.
Eleven Italian cities, including Rome, Milan and Florence, were also placed on red alert on Tuesday due to the heat.
In southern France, temperature records were broken at four weather stations on Monday, and three-quarters of the country was under heat alerts on Tuesday.
In Portugal, firefighters battled three large wildfires, with the most serious near Trancoso in the centre of the country.