Europe is "crushed" by fires - Extreme temperatures fuel the rapid spread of flames
Firefighters in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and the Balkans are battling wildfires as another heatwave has pushed temperatures above 40°C in parts of Europe. According to scientists, global warming is bringing hotter, drier summers to the Mediterranean region, causing the number of fires to increase each year.
On the outskirts of Madrid, the blazes killed one person and destroyed several homes and farms, but were brought under control on Tuesday, local authorities said. Another man died in a fire in Albania, while a 61-year-old Hungarian seasonal worker is suspected of dying from the heat while picking fruit in Catalonia, eastern Spain. In Tarifa, at the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula, beachgoers filmed flames and black smoke rising from the hills above white villas. More than 2,000 people were evacuated as the fire spread rapidly. Helicopters used seawater to extinguish the flames.
Authorities in Albania, Montenegro, Germany, Spain, Italy and France have issued warnings of extreme heat waves. In Spain, temperatures reached 44°C in some regions, according to the AEMET meteorological service, and forecasts for minimal rainfall and strong winds are increasing the risk of fires. Spain’s Interior Ministry has put national services on alert, while about 1,000 soldiers are helping to tackle the flames. In Spain’s largest region, Castilla y Leon, more than 1,200 firefighters are battling 32 fires, while thousands of residents have been forced to flee their homes.
Meanwhile, police announced they had arrested a firefighter in northwest Madrid who admitted to starting a fire in order to profit financially from extinguishing it.
In northern Portugal, more than 1,300 firefighters, supported by 16 aircraft, are battling three large blazes. One of them, in the Vila Real area, has been burning for 10 days.
In Montenegro, authorities, aided by helicopters from Serbia and Croatia, managed to bring a fire under control near Podgorica on Tuesday, as the capital was shrouded in smoke. Additional help is expected from Austria, Slovenia and Italy under the European Union's civil protection mechanism.
In Greece, at the southernmost point of Europe, fires forced the evacuation of several villages and a hotel on the tourist islands of Zakynthos and Cephalonia in the Ionian Sea, as well as four other areas. In the southern region of Achaia, a fire forced the evacuation of five villages near an industrial area, while 85 firefighters and 10 aircraft are trying to keep the flames away from homes in the town of Vonitsa, in western Greece.
Similar scenes were reported in Turkey, where a large fire in the northwestern province of Canakkale continues to burn, while hundreds of residents have been evacuated from the area.
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