MADRID: Wildfires brought on by arsonists or thunderstorms and fanned by a heatwave and robust winds wreaked destruction throughout southern Europe on Wednesday (Aug 13), burning houses and forcing hundreds of residents and vacationers to flee.
Hearth has affected almost 440,000 hectares within the eurozone to date in 2025, double the common for a similar interval of the yr since 2006, in accordance with the EU Science Hub’s Joint Analysis Centre.
Flames and darkish smoke billowed over a cement manufacturing unit that was set alight by a wildfire that swept via olive groves and forests and disrupted rail site visitors on the outskirts of the Greek metropolis of Patras, west of Athens.
“What does it seem like? It appears to be like like doomsday. Might God assist us and assist the individuals right here,” mentioned Giorgos Karvanis, a volunteer who had come from Athens to Patras to assist.
Authorities ordered residents of a city of about 7,700 individuals close to Patras to evacuate on Tuesday and issued new alerts on Wednesday, advising residents of two close by villages to go away.
On the Greek islands of Chios, within the east, and Cephalonia, within the west, each fashionable with vacationers, authorities instructed individuals to maneuver to security as fires unfold.
In Spain, a volunteer firefighter died from extreme burns and a number of other individuals have been hospitalised as state climate company AEMET warned that nearly all the nation was at excessive or very excessive danger of fireside.
