Wildfires reach outskirts of Athens as wind whips up blazes
Water-dropping helicopters and a ground crew scrambled early Thursday to a blaze in Kifissia, just north of Athens, which was quickly put out.
Strong gusts of wind caused flare-ups around Greece, disrupting highway traffic and rail services.
More than 600 wildfires have broken out across the country since July 13 although most were tackled before they could pose a threat, the Greek government said.
Explosion at ammunition factory
Evacuations were ordered near Volos, in central Greece, after fires caused an explosion in an ammunition warehouse.
"Part of the ammunition warehouse at the air force barracks in Nea Anchialos is on fire and an explosion has taken place," said fire service spokesman Yannis Artopios.
He said seven planes and three helicopters were on site.
July set to break heat records amid global wildfires
July is set to be the hottest month on record, due to human-driven climate change, according to the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Heatwaves and wildfires are affecting regions worldwide, including the Southern Europe, the US, Mexico, China and North Africa.
With global average temperatures reaching approximately 17°C in July, this month is likely to break the record set in July 2019.
Dr Carlo Buontempo, director of the climate change service, said the rising temperatures are largely due to human-induced emissions.
UN chief warns: We've entered 'the era of global boiling'
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday that we have entered the "era of global boiling".
Speaking in New York, Mr Guterres described the heat levels in the Northern Hemisphere as "terrifying" and demonstrating that the world has moved beyond mere global warming.
"Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning," Mr Guterres warned. He called for "dramatic, immediate climate action" to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C and avoid the worst of climate change.
His comments came as EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service revealed July is set to be the hottest month ever recorded.
Rising above the ashes
Aerial photographs taken by a drone in the village of Gennadi, on Rhodes, reveal the aftermath of raging fires.
Scorched land and smoke trails show the destructive path of the inferno through the area.
However, the damage to homes has been minimal, thanks to the efforts of firefighters and volunteers.
A Greek fire department spokesperson told state television the situation was better than on previous days.
Greek wildfires: Evacuations, accusations and growing despair
Authorities in central Greece have issued immediate evacuation orders after a new outbreak of wildfires threatened the cities of Volos and Lamia.
Meanwhile, in a TV interview, Kostas Agorastos, the mayor of the Thessaly region, which includes Volos, accused "brainless workers" of igniting the devastating fire.
As firefighters battle the flames, some, like Savas Filaderis from Rhodes, have expressed growing despair. Mr Filaderis said: "Every day, every night, we are here and we achieve nothing".
Air travel continues to and from Rhodes as the island grapples with wildfires
Despite the extensive damage and ongoing firefighting efforts, flights are continuing in and out of Rhodes.
London's Gatwick airport, one of the major airports serving the island, has kept its operations largely uninterrupted.
Three easyJet flights were scheduled to touch down between 3pm and 11pm UK time on Thursday, and a British Airways flight was slated to arrive just before 2am on Friday.
Greek PM urges more action against climate change effects
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has called for the country to take more significant steps to combat climate change and its impacts. He stressed that although climate change is a reality, it should not be used as an excuse for inaction.
During a meeting with President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, Mr Mitsotakis underscored the need to reform Greece's fire prevention policies to better mitigate the escalating climate crisis.
Mr Mitsotakis said: "Our country ought to take more steps... to be ready to mitigate, as much as possible, the effects of a reality that we are already starting to feel."
Wildfires reach Athens, disrupting travel and force further evacuations
Greek wildfires have now reached the outskirts of Athens.
Blazes have disrupted highway traffic and rail services. The fires have also led to massive evacuations, especially on the tourist-heavy island of Rhodes.
The region around Volos continues to battle wildfires on two fronts, forcing a significant portion of Greece's busiest highway to close temporarily. National rail services passing through this area have experienced delays.
Firefighters are still battling fires on the island of Evia as well as facing the tenth consecutive day of flames on Rhodes.
Early on Thursday, a fire broke out near homes in the leafy Athens suburb of Kifissia but was swiftly extinguished.
UK's record hot summer of 2022 was ‘a sign of things to come’
Last year was the hottest recorded in UK history, with scientists warning that the climate will continue to heat up if greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed.
The Met Office’s new report also highlighted that heatwaves are becoming more frequent, and overall, the UK is getting wetter, with five of the 10 wettest years occurring in the 21st century.
Italy allows temporary lay-offs for firms
The initiative is a response to the escalating climate emergency that has led to deadly wildfires and storms across the country.
The decision comes as the southern region battles a severe heatwave, with Sicily being heavily hit by devastating wildfires.
Storms in the north have caused significant damage, prompting the Lombardy region to request the government to declare a state of emergency.
Spain's Gran Canaria wildfire 'stabilised', say emergency services
Emergency services announced that a wildfire that engulfed 400 hectares of woodland in the centre of Spain's Gran Canaria Island has been 'stabilised'.
Efforts to contain the blaze involved closing three roads, and deploying nine aircraft, and 250 firefighters.
Hundreds of residents and dozens of campers had been evacuated.
Residents have since been allowed to return to their homes under security supervision. Earlier this month, a wildfire on the nearby island of La Palma led to the evacuation of 4,000 people.
Greece battles devastating wildfires amid impending winds
Greek firefighters are racing against time to contain the wildfires that have been scorching the country for two weeks, leaving five dead and causing widespread evacuations.
The crisis threatens to escalate with the forecast of strong winds set to rekindle the blazes.
Despite reinforcements from the EU controlling the flames on Rhodes, Corfu, Evia and central Greece remains a challenge.
Two were killed in the city of Volos following an outbreak.
While the temperatures are expected to drop, impending near-gale winds could complicate firefighting efforts.
Greek Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Vassilis Kikilias said the ongoing heatwave and imminent strong winds were a formidable challenge.
"We are living through dangerous summer days, as are nine other Mediterranean countries," Mr Kikilias said.
"Very high temperatures of over 40°C and intense winds have created fire fronts of many kilometres". He added that crews were battling through "inconceivable fatigue."
Survivor says 'nothing left' after Algeria fires
Algeria on Wednesday said it had contained wildfires that killed at least 34 people after ravaging northern parts of the country.
"Back home, there is nothing left and not even a sheep survived," Taous Timizar, a survivor of the blaze in northeast Algeria, told AFP.
Witnesses described fleeing walls of flames that raged "like a blowtorch". TV footage showed charred cars, burnt-out shops and smouldering scrubland.
Fire-ravaged Greece braces for more heat as rest of Europe cools
Greek authorities evacuated part of the central city of Lamia on Wednesday as high winds and heat increased the threat posed by wildfires.
Residents in the north of the city of 52,000 people were told to move south as a blaze endangers homes.
While other parts of the Mediterranean have cooled, Greek firefighters are using planes and helicopters to battle 146 wildfires.
The highest risk has switched to the Greek mainland, including the area around Athens. The situation on Evia, where two pilots died on Tuesday while dropping water on the flames, has improved.
Heatwave reduces Egypt's mango crop
Kamal Tabikha reports:
An ongoing heatwave is affecting Egypt’s mango harvest this summer, much of which is intended for export, farmers said.
Mango farmers in the Nubareya region of El Beheira province told The National that a sizeable portion of their crop had been ruined by sunburn, a common occurrence in fruit grown in dry areas such as Egypt.
Although mangoes thrive in hot, humid climates, the fruit can become stressed and its flesh ruined if temperatures rise above the mid-40s. Sunburn is clearly visible on mangoes as a dry, brown patch on the skin.
Tunisia's poor hit hardest by wildfires as residents pick up pieces
Ghaya Ben Mbarek reports:
As wildfires that have raged for three days in Tunisia are brought under control, residents of areas most impacted are considering how to begin the recovery.
Tabarka has a 16.7 per cent poverty rate, according to Tunisia’s National Statistics Institute, and most families rely on agriculture and tourism to make ends meet due to limited development in the region.
Sisters Salha and Meriem Ouerheni came so close to losing both their homes and their farm for a second time.
“The last time something like this happened, all my cows, chickens and dogs were killed, this time if I had not relied on myself, the same could have happened,” Salha Ouerheni said.
Italy adopts measures to tackle extreme climate events
Italy announced measures on Wednesday to help families and businesses hit by extreme climate events, as the country reels from a heatwave in the south and fierce storms in the north.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing administration approved a decree to help building and agricultural companies keep staff at home in areas with very high temperatures.
Under existing Italian regulations, companies can apply for temporary lay-offs - usually to deal with a slump in business - for no more than 52 weeks over two years, or 90 days a year in the agricultural sector.
The decree allows building and farming companies, both severely hit by the heatwave because their workers cannot work from home, to use the instrument without the hours being counted in the overall limits.
"The measure will be valid for this year," Labour Minister Marina Calderone said after an evening cabinet meeting.
A draft seen by Reuters showed that the decree had a cost of €10 million.
- Reuters
Climate crisis 'is here' as EU disaster chief addresses fires
Europe is facing another summer of disastrous extreme weather.
Wildfires in Greece have killed three people and caused thousands of tourists to evacuate, while Italian firefighters said they battled nearly 1,400 fires between Sunday and Tuesday.
"The situation that we see in southern Europe shows that we are in the climate crisis. It's already here," EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said.
EU countries are responsible for responding to wildfires, and request assistance from the EU reserve only when they need back-up. The EU can also offer emergency support to non-EU countries.
The bloc received 11 such requests in 2022 and has had four this year so far - including in Greece and Tunisia, where EU reserve planes are battling blazes.
Mr Lenarcic said climate change-fuelled impacts were now costing Europe at least tens of billions of euros a year.
Those costs will soar if countries do not urgently reduce the levels of carbon dioxide emissions heating the planet.
"The green transition is not going to be cheap," Mr Lenarcic said. "But what we need to explain to our citizens, to the voters, to the electorate, is that if it is not done, the consequences will be much more expensive."
- Reuters
EU plans to buy firefighting planes as climate crises worsen
The EU wants to sign contracts this year for up to 12 firefighting planes, the first it would fully own, to improve its ability to fight blazes fuelled by climate change, the bloc's head of crisis management said.
The EU doubled its existing reserve fleet of firefighting aircraft in the past year, after devastating fires last summer in southern Europe exhausted its previous 13-craft capacity.
That fleet comprises 28 aircraft, which the EU pays to lease from EU countries' fleets or the market, to form a bloc-wide buffer during the wildfire season.
That doubling of numbers is expected to cost €23 million, the European Commission said.
But as climate change increases the risk of severe blazes, EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said Brussels wanted contracts signed this year to buy 12 craft, plus another 12 to bolster countries' national fleets.
Six member states would sign the contracts: Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
The EU would finance the purchase of the 12 planes for its own fleet, while member states would pay for their own.
- Reuters