Wildfires scorch Greece as heatwave grips parts of Europe | Climate Crisis News
According to a top firefighting official, Greece is experiencing its most difficult days of the wildfire season so far, with dozens of new fires starting in a single day and extinguishing efforts being hampered by severe weather.
Conditions on much of the mainland and the islands have gotten worse recently due to strong winds, extended dryness, and extreme heat, necessitating evacuations and spectacular rescue efforts.
The head of the fire brigade officers’ association, Kostas Tsingas, told broadcaster ERT News on Wednesday that 82 new fires were reported nationwide the day before, which he described as “exceptionally high.”
Two massive flames are raging close to the western city of Patras on the devastated Peloponnese peninsula, making the situation extremely perilous.
Significant fires are also burning in the islands of Zakynthos and Chios, as well as in the northwest Preveza region.
The smoke was so bad on Chios that the coast guard picked up scores of people at Limnia’s little harbor.
During a televised briefing on Wednesday, fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Vathrakogiannis stated that 13 firemen had received treatment for burns and other injuries.
Since morning, 33 aircraft and about 5,000 firemen have been sent in to help contain the fires that were fueled by winds and hot, dry weather near Patras, on the popular islands of Chios and Zakynthos, and in at least three inland locations.
Vathrakogiannis said that today will be another extremely challenging day because of the significant probability of wildfire in the majority of the country’s regions. In certain locations, temperatures were predicted to exceed 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 degrees Fahrenheit).
Greece has appealed for four firefighting planes under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and asked other EU states for assistance.
Hundreds evacuated
Heat warnings were issued on Tuesday across Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and the Balkans, with temperatures predicted to reach over 40 Ā°C (104 Ā°F) in certain areas.
According to the EU climate monitor Copernicus, smoke and greenhouse gas emissions from forest fires since the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere are among the highest ever recorded, and Europe has been fighting wildfires for weeks.
According to officials on Tuesday, a worker at a Spanish equestrian center in Tres Cantos, a posh neighborhood north of Madrid, passed away from his wounds. Later, authorities in northwest Spain’s Castile and Leon announced that another man had died battling fires.
After a wildfire started, some 2,000 people were forced to leave their residences and hotels close to the well-known beaches of Tarifa in Andalusia, southern Spain.
Numerous fires were recorded in the Castile and Leon region, one of which threatened Las Medulas, a UNESCO World Heritage site famous for its historic Roman gold mines.
After the fire was extinguished, Alfonso Fernandez Manuec, the chairman of the regional government, promised “to act quickly and generously” to return the place “to its full glory as soon as possible.”
“We are at extreme risk of forest fires,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned on X, adding that emergency personnel were “working tirelessly to extinguish the fires.” Please exercise extreme caution.
Felix Nyawara of Al Jazeera claimed that strong winds and little rainfall had made combating fires in Spain’s Galicia region more challenging.
“I apologize, but there are a lot of animals up. That [if] no one ā¦ discovers them, they will likewise be burned,” Mari Carmen, a Spanish Galician, told Al Jazeera.
Heat grips the Balkans
While battling flames in the hills north of the city, Podgorica, in Montenegro, a soldier lost control of their water tanker, and another was gravely hurt.
According to Albanian police, an 80-year-old man died on Tuesday from smoke inhalation after starting a fire in his yard that spread uncontrollably to neighboring villages in the Gramsh area of Elbasan district.
On Monday, a kid in Italy passed away from heatstroke.
Due to the heat, eleven Italian towns, including Florence, Milan, and Rome, were also put on red alert on Tuesday.
On Monday, four meteorological stations in southern France recorded temperature records, and on Tuesday, heat alerts were issued for three-quarters of the country.
Three significant wildfires were fought by firefighters in Portugal, the most serious of which was in Trancoso in the country’s center.
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