DEADLY BLAZES ACROSS EUROPE RAGE AMID ONGOING HEAT WAVE
Homes destroyed in several countries, evacuations ordered
Deadly fires raging in Greece and other European countries advanced on Wednesday, destroying homes and threatening nature reserves during a third successive wave of extreme temperatures.
The summer wildfires have struck countries across the region, prompting the European Union to expand its support, sending two Spanish firefighting planes to Tunisia after wildfires in neighboring Algeria left at least 34 people dead in recent days.
More wildfires broke out Wednesday in the central mainland of Greece, with the most serious near the city of Volos, where outlying villages and a nearby industrial zone were ordered evacuated. The fire service said there were no immediate reports of people trapped in factory buildings.
It said two people were found dead following fires in the surrounding area — an older woman burned to death in a caravan and a shepherd who had gone to save his flock. Volos residents were urged to stay indoors due to the smoke inhalation hazard.
Farther south, a wildfire triggered a precautionary evacuation order for some outskirts of the town of Lamia.
New evacuations were ordered overnight on the islands of Corfu, Evia and Rhodes, where thousands of tourists were moved to safety over the weekend.
Authorities said the charred remains of a missing farmer were found in southern Evia — a discovery made following the death of two Greek firefighting pilots, in a crash during a low-altitude water drop.
The heat wave in Greece has pushed temperatures back above 104 degrees Fahrenheit while strong winds hampered firefighting efforts. The fire on Rhodes has damaged an inland nature reserve.
In Italy, meanwhile, the bodies of two people were found in a home that had been consumed by flames near the Palermo airport, on the island of Sicily, which had been closed temporarily because of the encroaching flames, according to Italian news reports.
Firefighters battled wildfires across southern Italy as searing temperatures continued to scorch Sicily, Sardinia and Calabria, where dozens of fires broke out and multiple evacuations were ordered.
To the west, more than 500 firefighters continued to combat a blaze close to Lisbon, Portugal. The fire forced the evacuation of 90 people from their homes along with 800 farm animals.
The blaze near the coastal town of Cascais, 19 miles west of Lisbon, was brought under control early Wednesday, helped by cooler temperatures. Firefighters remained in the area to watch for any further flare-ups as temperatures as winds rose again Wednesday. Fears rose that it might spread deep into the nearby Sintra-Cascais Natural Park. No injuries were reported.
In Turkey, a hospital and a dozen homes were evacuated as a precaution in the coastal town of Kemer, where firefighters for a third day battled a blaze raging through woodland. At least 10 planes, 22 helicopters and hundreds of firefighters were deployed.
Five helicopters with night-vision capabilities worked through the night, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Authorities said residential areas were not under threat in Kemer, in the Mediterranean coastal province of Antalya.
Water-dropping planes, helicopters and firefighters were also deployed to a forest blaze Wednesday near the district of Beykoz, in Istanbul, where temperatures reached 109.4 degrees. The cause of the wildfire on the Asian side of the city wasn’t immediately known and it wasn’t clear if residential areas were under threat.
Teams were also battling two fires near the towns of Kinik and Odemis in the western coastal province of Izmir, Anadolu said. At least three villages near Kinik were evacuated as a precaution.
In a bit of good news, Tunisia’s interior minister, Kamel Fekih, said Wednesday that the wildfires that broke out in the country in recent days are now under control, signaling an end to the immediate danger.
He said a “few fire pockets” in the northwestern areas of Malouleh and Ain Sobh were being addressed but “no longer pose any danger.” Earlier in the week, a school principal in the northwestern town of Nefza died of asphyxiation because of heavy smoke from the f lames.