Key facts
- Wildfires are raging across Greece, fanned by strong winds and exacerbated by heatwaves.
- Hundreds of people have been evacuated by sea from coastal areas in Greece.
- Fires have flared up again in France, with one blaze burning approximately 1,250 more hectares since Friday.
- Major wildfires in France near Bordeaux and in Spain near Madrid have been brought under control.
- Extreme heatwaves and dry conditions are contributing to widespread wildfires across Europe.
Wildfires fanned by gale-force winds are burning across multiple areas of Greece, including near Athens, prompting large-scale firefighting operations and emergency evacuations. Europe has been ravaged by wildfires this summer following successive record-breaking heatwaves and dry conditions, leading to destroyed villages and hundreds of thousands displaced.
In Greece, blazes flared up across the country, with over 400 firefighters battling a conflagration in Porto Germeno, northwest of Athens, where winds reached up to 130 km/h. Some 300 people had to be rescued by sea from the nearby village of Agios Vasileios after initially ignoring evacuation calls. Wildfires have also flared on the island of Crete, and three firefighters have lost their lives this week.
France is seeing a resurgence of a fire in the Var department, which flared up again and swept across approximately 1,250 more hectares since Friday, with a total of 4,500 hectares burnt by the end of the week. Despite these efforts, 2,500 people remain unable to return home. However, authorities stated that France's largest wildfire in 70 years, near Bordeaux, has been brought under control, burning 420 square kilometres of pine forest.
Spain continues to battle multiple wildfire hot spots, with fires near Bordeaux and Madrid having been brought under control, though fires continue to rage in western Spain.