Deadly Wildfires Scorch Southern Europe
Wildfires across southern Europe have killed at least three people in Spain, Turkey, and Albania, the AP reports. In Greece, firefighters wage a "titanic battle" against multiple blazes, with ANA-MPA reporting at least 15 firefighters injured.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A wave of devastating wildfires has intensified across southern Europe, claiming at least three lives in Spain, Turkey, and Albania, as firefighting crews wage a desperate, multi-front battle against blazes fanned by weeks of extreme heat and high winds.
According to a report from The Associated Press, the fires have stretched emergency resources thin across the Mediterranean. The battle is particularly fierce in Greece, where firefighters fought through the night to protect the perimeter of Patras, the country's third-largest city.
The AP described scenes of residents joining the effort, beating back flames with branches and dousing them with water as firefighting aircraft swooped overhead.
The Greek fire service spokesperson, Vasilis Vathrakogiannis, described the situation as a "titanic battle" in a statement to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA).
He confirmed on Wednesday that while a fire in Megara, Attica, was contained, major fronts were still blazing in Achaia, Preveza, Chios, and Zakynthos.
A massive aerial operation involving 33 firefighting aircraft and helicopters has been underway since early Wednesday, with all civil protection services on high alert.
ANA-MPA reported that the fire in Gymnotopos, Preveza, had split into two fronts, fanned by powerful winds, while the blaze on the island of Chios also had two active fronts.
The human cost of the fires is mounting, particularly for emergency responders. A firefighting volunteer was killed in the hard-hit Castile and León region of Spain, where thousands have been displaced, the AP reported.
In southern Turkey, a forestry worker was killed in an accident involving a fire truck, bringing the total number of fatalities in Turkey's fires since late June to 18. In Greece, at least fifteen firefighters have been injured, with several taken to the hospital for heatstroke, burns, and other injuries, according to ANA-MPA.
The crisis extends to Albania, where an 80-year-old man died in a blaze south of the capital, Tirana, the AP reported.
Officials there evacuated four villages near a former army ammunition depot, and explosions from buried World War II-era artillery shells were reported in the southern Korca district. Greece has sent assistance to aid Albania's efforts.
The Spanish government, meanwhile, has raised its national emergency response level to provide additional support for regional authorities managing multiple evacuations and highway closures.
