Wildfires Scorch Greece Amid Heatwave

Greece is facing its most challenging days yet of this year’s wildfires season, with dozens of new blazes erupting in a single day and extreme weather conditions hampering extinguishing efforts. According to Kostas Tsingas, head of the fire brigade officers’ association, 82 new fires were recorded across the country the previous day, a number he described as “exceptionally high”.

The situation is particularly dire 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 due to intense smoke.

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. Fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said, “Today, it will be another very difficult day, as the wildfire risk for most of the country’s regions will be very high.” Temperatures were forecast to reach 34 degrees Celsius in some places.

Some 13 firefighters have been treated for burns and other injuries, Vathrakogiannis told a televised briefing on Wednesday. Greece has requested help from fellow European Union members and applied for four firefighting aircraft through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

The wildfires are not limited to Greece, with other European countries also battling blazes. In Spain, an employee of a Spanish equestrian centre died from injuries in Tres Cantos, a wealthy suburb north of Madrid. Another man was killed while fighting fires in the Castile and Leon region. 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 rescue services were “working tirelessly to extinguish the fires” and warned, “We are at extreme risk of forest fires. Please be very cautious.” Europe has been battling wildfires for weeks, 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.

Heat alerts were issued in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Balkans on Tuesday, with temperatures expected to soar above 40C in some regions. In Montenegro, a soldier died and another was seriously injured when their water tanker overturned while fighting wildfires. In Albania, an 80-year-old man died from smoke inhalation after he lit a blaze in his yard that spread out of control to nearby villages.

In Italy, a child died of heatstroke on Monday, and eleven Italian cities, including Rome, Milan, and Florence, were placed on red alert 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.