Wildfires have been burning in at least eight countries across Europe and North Africa with firefighters across the region battling on Wednesday to put out blazes.
At least 40 people have died, the majority in Algeria, where at least 34 people have been killed. In Croatia, flames came within less than eight miles of the country’s historic town of Dubrovnik on Tuesday.
In Greece, around 20,000 people have by now had to leave homes and resorts in Rhodes, while over 3,000 holidaymakers including Brits returned home by plane amid a blistering heatwave.
Greece
Greece has been particularly hard hit by the wildfires. The Civil Protection Ministry warned of an “extreme danger” of fire in six of the country’s 13 regions on Wednesday.
Crete, the largest of the Greek Islands, has been put on high alert because of the risk of fire, while the Foreign Office has advised Brits to ensure they have appropriate insurance before visiting Greece.
Two Greek air force pilots died on Tuesday afternoon after a plane crashed while they were battling a forest fire near Platanistos on the island of Evia, east of Athens.
Algeria
A bush fire that has been raging in Algeria’s forests was beginning to be contained, the country’s state TV reported on Wednesday.
Wildfires across regions of the country have claimed the lives of at least 34 people and forced about 1,500 people to evacuate their homes, amid a major heatwave.
The worst affected region was coastal area Bejaia where 23 of the fatalities occurred, including ten soldiers who were encircled by flames during an evacuation.
Italy
Italy has been hit by contrasting weather events, with wildfires in Sicily and other regions in the south, but storms in the north.
On the island of Sicily, two people were found dead Tuesday in a home burned by a wildfire, while regional officials said that 55 fires were active in Sicily. In Puglia, further north, some 2,000 tourists were evacuated from three hotels in Vieste as flames got perilously close.
But in Italy’s northern Lombardy region, a powerful storm was blamed for the death of a 16-year-old girl at a scouts’ camp.
Portugal
Hundreds of Portuguese firefighters were on Tuesday night putting out the flames that swept across a natural park near the popular holiday destination of Cascais.
The wildfire started at 4pm GMT at a mountainous area that is part of the Sintra-Cascais natural park, which covers around 56 square miles of land west of the capital, Lisbon.
In one of the villages affected by the fires, desperate local residents took matters into their own hands by attempting to protect their homes with buckets of water and hosepipes.
Spain
A rapidly-spreading wildfire broke out at the centre of the Spanish island of Gran Canaria on Tuesday, forcing authorities to remove several hundred villagers from their homes.
Reuters reported that the flames were affecting the hilly central part of the island near the Tejeda peak, away from the beaches popular with tourists.
Antonio Morales, head of the Island Council of Gran Canaria, told reporters that about 100 firefighters and nine aircraft were working to put out the blaze that has so far burned through 200 hectares of forest, but no buildings have been affected.
Croatia
Firefighters battled wildfires that were spreading in the area south of Dubrovnik late on Tuesday, with strong southerly winds preventing deployment of aircraft, local media reported.
“A hurricane southern wind blowing in the Dubrovnik-Neretva canton has fuelled a widespread open space fire in the area of the Dubrovnik Plat community," the Croatian Firefighters Community (HVZ) said on its website.
About 130 firefighters from across the country were battling the fires, the HVZ said, but buildings had not yet been threatened.
Tunisia
In Tunisia, fires in neighbouring Algeria forced the closure of two border crossings.
The official TAP news agency reported one death from wildfires: a school principal who died of asphyxiation from a fire in Nafza, in the northwest.
Nafza was among one of the northwestern regions where firefighters were battling flames devouring forests and citrus and hazelnut groves.
France
In southeastern France, fire crews fought scattered wildfires on Tuesday, including one near Arles in Provence involving 300 firefighters and a water-dropping helicopter.
Authorities banned access to several forested areas along the French Riviera and in Corsica.
The Bouches-du-Rhone department was also placed under a “red alert”, with authorities warning of a “very high risk” of wildfires.
