Europe sees fresh wildfire breakouts in more tourist hotspots

Extreme weather conditions create travel chaos with cancelled flights as deaths rise

A fire burns trees and low vegetation in Lamia. EPA

Fresh wildfires broke out in tourist hotspots across Europe on Wednesday, as the devastation caused by a heatwave escalated and more lives were lost.

Firefighters across the continent were battling blazes in Italy, Gran Canaria, Portugal, Croatia and mainland Greece.

In Lebanon, a large fire was brought under control in the coastal area of Batroun on Wednesday.

The Lebanese army deployed a helicopter to stifle the blaze, which sent large black smoke clouds into the sky as it moved towards forest areas. The cause of the fire isn’t yet known, but wildfires are common at this time of year.

Greece's islands have suffered 12 days of wildfires, leading to mass evacuations.

Separately, in Switzerland, one person died and 15 others were injured after a tornado hit.

Experts have warned Europe to expect more extreme weather incidents due to climate change.

On Wednesday, the fires took more lives with two people dying in southern Italy. Their bodies were found in a burnt-out farmhouse.

A third person died when emergency services could not get to them because of fires.

Italian civil protection agencies reported “extensive fires” across the south of the country, with firefighters dealing with nearly 1,400 blazes between Sunday and Tuesday.

New blazes threatened central regions of Greece on Wednesday, prompting evacuation orders for locals near the industrial centre of Volos, where some 85,000 people live, and another major city, Lamia, which is home to 60,000 people.

“It's hell here. There are four different fronts stretching across a combined 10 kilometres (six miles),” Dorothea Kolindrini, a deputy governor of an area included in the orders, told state TV ERT.

“Today is the most difficult day of the summer,” fire department spokesman Ioannis Artopios said.

His crews were continuing to battle 90 fires on Wednesday, 61 of which had broken out in the previous 24 hours.

Evacuation orders have been issued for five villages and communities near Volos, and three more in outer Lamia, Mr Artopios said.

Thessaly governor Kostas Agorastos warned the new fires could cause major issues.

“It's a very difficult fire as there are many fronts,” he said.

“There's a north-western hot wind, very dangerous for fires. If it does not die down we will have major problems.”

The warning came a day after three people, including two pilots, were killed in the fires on the Greek island of Evia, near Athens.

Several embassies in Athens lowered their flags to half-mast on Wednesday, as the nation announced three days of mourning for the airmen, who died in a crash during a low-altitude water drop.

In Portugal, fires broke out in the mountainous area of the popular holiday destination Cascais, near the capital Lisbon.

More than 90 people were evacuated as a precaution.

In Croatia, 130 firefighters battled wildfires on Wednesday near the southern city of Dubrovnik.

The fire was reportedly some 12 kilometres from the famed mediaeval city.

Wildfires that left at least 34 people, including 10 soldiers, dead in Algeria this week spread into parts of Tunisia, including the forests of Tabarka, Jendouba, Beja, Bizerte and Siliana, on Wednesday.

Spain sent firefighting planes to help tackle the blazes and more than 600 people had to be temporarily evacuated.

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 to extinguish the fire as meteorologists warned temperatures could rise several degrees above seasonal averages.

The popular holiday destination of Gran Canaria was also under threat on Wednesday after sparks from a brush cutter sparked a wildfire.

The blaze in the Caldera de Los Marteles volcanic area started when a worker using the cutter was clearing land with two others, island president Antonio Morales said.

The three workers tried in vain to extinguish the fire before calling emergency services.

Nine water-carrying helicopters were being used by firefighters and Mr Morales said they hoped to have the blaze under control later on Wednesday.

About 300 hectares of the mountain area had been burnt.

The extreme weather has led to major travel chaos and disruption at the height of the holiday season.

More than 20,000 people have been moved from Rhodes so far after wildfires destroyed 10 per cent of the island.

Tour operator Tui has cancelled a number of holidays to hotels in the south of the island until August 11.

Tui, Jet2 and other airlines have already cancelled outbound flights to the island until Friday.

Firefighters are continuing to contain 146 wildfires on Rhodes, in operations that officials estimate have so far cost 7.5 million euros ($8.30 million).

Gatwick Airport has been arranging repatriation flights from Rhodes. Further evacuation orders have been issued for Corfu and Evia.

Northern Corfu deputy mayor Nikos Mouzakitis said he suspected arson was to blame after blazes were rekindled overnight on the island.

“Suddenly, there was a fire out of nowhere, we have not slept for three to four days now due to watching out for such incidents,” he told state television ERT.

The mounting disasters led to the European Union announcing later on Wednesday that it plans to sign contracts for up to 12 firefighting planes in a bid to improve its ability to fight blazes fuelled by climate change.

EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said Brussels wanted contracts signed this year to buy 12 EU aircraft, plus another 12 to bolster countries' own national fleets which would be funded by Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

“The situation that we see in southern Europe shows that we are in the climate crisis. It's already here,” Mr Lenarcic said.

EU countries are responsible for responding to wildfires, and request assistance from the EU reserve only when they need back-up.

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 currently battling blazes.

Mr Lenarcic said climate change-fuelled impacts were now costing Europe at least tens of billions of euros per year and warned that costs would spiral if countries do not urgently reduce the burning of fossil fuels and the CO2 emissions heating the planet.