Fires continue to ravage parts of Europe
Greece, Portugal and Spain continued to battle raging fires on Wednesday (13), while the situation improved in France and Italy after tens of thousands of hectares were devastated in recent days in southern Europe.
The wildfires, which also affected Britain and the Balkans this week, were fueled by an intense and prolonged heat wave coupled with a severe drought, signs of the effects of global warming on the continent.
Greek firefighters were facing a "very difficult day" on Wednesday due to strong wind gusts, with 23 active fires, one of them near Patras, the country's third largest city.
"This is undoubtedly the most difficult 24 hours of fighting fires," Kostas Tsigas, president of the Firefighters' Union, told local television station ERT.
"Yesterday alone, 82 fires were started, a very high number that, combined with strong winds, drought, and high temperatures, created enormous difficulties," Tsigas said of these outbreaks, most of which have been controlled.
Since this morning, 33 planes and 4,850 firefighters have been mobilized on all fronts.
Greece has seen winds of over 80 km/h over the past week, while fires have left three people dead since Friday, two of them Vietnamese tourists.
On Tuesday, the Mediterranean country turned to a European cooperation mechanism to obtain four additional air tankers to fight the flames, which have already consumed more than 20,000 hectares since June.
The fires that most worry authorities are on the island of Zante in the Ionian Sea, on the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea, in the western town of Preveza, and in the department of Acaya in the northwestern Peloponnese.
Near the port of Patras, a new fire near the Voudeni archaeological site has once again threatened forested areas and homes, and the area is covered in a thick cloud of black smoke.
Five major fires were ravaging northern and central Portugal on Wednesday, and were being fought by more than 1,800 firefighters, with the support of around 20 aerial vehicles, according to Civil Protection.
The fire that mobilized the most resources was in Trancoso (center), active since Saturday, where strong gusts of wind caused new fires during the night, which threatened villages.
Near Aldeia Nova, under a thick cloud of smoke that covered the streets of the small village of stone houses, residents helped the firefighters.
“It’s scary… But we’re always willing to help each other,” a farmer told the Sic Noticias channel.
Portugal is counting on two Moroccan amphibious aircraft until the weekend, after two of its aircraft suffered damage.
Faced with criticism over the lack of resources, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro assured on Tuesday that the government was doing "everything possible," recalling that 15,000 agents had been mobilized and all available resources were on high alert.
Since the beginning of the year, forest fires have consumed more than 63,000 hectares, according to provisional data from the National Institute of Forest Management.
In Spain, firefighters have been battling 14 fires since Wednesday, mostly in the north. However, the situation could improve thanks to increased humidity, some rain, and a drop in temperatures.
"We hope that developments throughout the morning will be favorable because the weather will be with us for a few hours," Virginia Barcones, director-general of Civil Protection, told public television.
Around 6,000 people from 26 locations have been evacuated from the northeastern region of Castile and León, while the fires have already left two dead.
Since the beginning of the year, the country has suffered 199 fires, which have destroyed 99,000 hectares, double the number last year, but three times less than in 2022, the worst year on record.
Several Balkan countries were battling a dozen fires on Wednesday. In Albania, an 80-year-old man died after setting fire to his garden. The flames spread to neighboring houses, injuring eight people. Out-of-control fires ravaged the center and south of the country, while the situation improved in neighboring Montenegro, where one person died in the fires.
The south of France remains on high alert to prevent any reactivation of the gigantic fire that devastated 16,000 hectares in the Aude department, which was brought under control on Sunday.
However, the center-east is under red alert due to an intense heat wave, which is also impacting Italy, Portugal, Greece, Spain and the Balkans.
The situation has improved significantly with regard to fires, as the fire on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, which covered the city of Naples (south) in smoke, was brought under control after five days.
Across the peninsula, firefighters reported Wednesday that they had managed to “control or extinguish” nine fires.
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