simultaneous disasters<\/a>.<\/p>\nEurope\u2019s wildfire toll mounts as climate risks intensify<\/p>\n
Europe entered 2026 after its worst wildfire year on record, when more than 10,000 square kilometers (3,860 square miles) burned. Wildfires cause estimated economic losses of about 2 billion euros in a typical year, according to the European Commission\u2019s Joint Research Centre.<\/p>\n
Two firefighters try to extinguish the wildfire near Greece\u2019s Agia Paraskevi on Aug. 2. REUTERS<\/p>\n
The crisis is unfolding on the world\u2019s fastest-warming continent. Europe has warmed at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union\u2019s Copernicus Climate Change Service.<\/p>\n
Human-caused climate change doubled the likelihood of the extreme fire conditions that fueled the\u00a0French blazes this year,\u00a0scientists at World Weather Attribution calculated in a\u00a0rapid analysis\u00a0while the fires were still burning.<\/p>\n
Gale-force winds drive flames through Athens region<\/p>\n
Nearly 500 firefighters and 23 aircraft were deployed, but gale-force winds fanned the fire while crippling the response. The winds drove flames through dry forest and made it impossible for some aircraft to descend to the sea for water.<\/p>\n
The view of a burned settlement near Megara, Greece. REUTERS<\/p>\n
Smoke rose over the mountains as evacuation orders were issued for the communities of Kandili, Agia Skepi and Toutouli. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was briefed on the operation, with authorities particularly concerned about Porto Germeno, a seaside community on the Gulf of Corinth.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, flames burned dangerously close to homes on Kefalonia, forcing evacuations from inland villages as aircraft made water drops over the Ionian tourist island. On the mainland, nearly 50 firefighters, a specialist wildfire unit, 16 engines and a helicopter battled another blaze near Nea Tenedos in Halkidiki.<\/p>\n
The fire began Friday near Agios Vasileios before sweeping toward Porto Germeno and into the forested mountains west of Athens.<\/p>\n
Firefighters evacuated 254 people by sea from Agios Vasileios on Friday and another 12 from Porto Germeno on Saturday \u2014 an escape route of last resort in coastal communities where fire and smoke can cut the few roads out.<\/p>\n
Wildfire meteorologist Theodore Giannaros estimated Saturday that the blaze had affected 40 to 50 square kilometers (15 to 19 square miles), though authorities had not issued an official figure.<\/p>\n
\u201cA pristine forest, a paradise, was surrendered to the hands of the fire,\u201d local farmer Minas Tzortzanis said Saturday. \u201cThere are no words to explain what has happened. Destruction. Total destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n
The danger carried grim resonance in Greece. In 2018, a wind-driven wildfire trapped residents in the seaside community of Mati, east of Athens, killing 104 people in Europe\u2019s deadliest wildfire this century.<\/p>\n
France guards a fire four times the size of Paris<\/p>\n
In southwestern France, the Gironde megafire remained contained Sunday but was still burning after scorching 420 square kilometers (162 square miles) of forest in just 10 days.<\/p>\n
Smoke rises from a fire in Gironde, France on July 31. It remains contained as of Sunday, Aug. 2. REUTERS<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fire is now fixed, which does not mean that the fire is extinguished,\u201d the Gironde prefecture said Sunday, using the French firefighting term for a blaze whose advance has been stopped and whose perimeter has been contained.<\/p>\n
The region remained under France\u2019s highest red forest-fire alert. Dry conditions and soaring temperatures around Bordeaux, combined with afternoon winds, created a continued risk of renewed flames.<\/p>\n
In Le Porge, one of the communities hardest hit, local officials said about 150 homes were destroyed.<\/p>\n
Mechanic Matthieu Plessis returned Saturday to the ruins of a home that had been in his family for seven generations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are places I don\u2019t even recognize anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cYou don\u2019t even know what was here anymore, or who lived where.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional firefighters from Ukraine, Lithuania and French Polynesia were expected Sunday and Monday to reinforce the operation.<\/p>\n
Provence blaze stabilized but not contained<\/p>\n
Hundreds of kilometers away, nearly 1,500 firefighters were battling a separate fire in the southeastern Var department that tore through roughly 18 square kilometers (7 square miles) in little more than a day.<\/p>\n
Firefighters try to spray water on remaining wildfire hotspots in southeastern France on Aug. 1. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Authorities said the fire in the Gros Bessillon hills was stabilized Sunday morning, meaning its perimeter had not expanded overnight. But unlike the Gironde fire, it had not yet been declared contained.<\/p>\n
Firefighting aircraft supported crews working to keep the flames away from villages among the vineyards, olive groves and wooded hills of the region known as Green Provence.<\/p>\n
About 2,500 people were evacuated as the fire threatened communities.<\/p>\n
The blaze was the fourth major fire to strike the central Var since July 19. A separate, smaller fire near Brignoles earlier in the week forced Hollywood actor George Clooney and his family, along with about 700 other residents, to evacuate before it was brought under control.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu said France\u2019s wildfires were generally under control but cautioned that conditions remained highly changeable.<\/p>\n
He also announced that a national coordinator attached to the prime minister\u2019s office would oversee reconstruction in fire-ravaged areas.<\/p>\n
More than 1,170 square kilometers (452 square miles) have burned across France since the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n
Spain holds the line after a deadly, record-breaking fire siege<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s major fires \u2014 part of a season that has killed at least 13 people, produced the country\u2019s largest recorded wildfire and prompted a national emergency<\/a> \u2014 were no longer advancing Sunday.<\/p>\nIn Zamora province near the Portuguese border, more than 20 ground and aerial units remained deployed around the Fermoselle fire, maintaining its perimeter and guarding against flare-ups in the rugged Arribes del Duero landscape. Most evacuees had returned home, according to local media.<\/p>\n
Firefighters and residents work together to extinguish a wildfire in Spain on July 29. REUTERS<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez has called for a national pact to confront wildfires, warning that climate change is making them more destructive.<\/p>\n
Adamson reported from Paris. Michael Varaklas in Megara, Greece contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s wildfire crisis fractured along starkly different fronts Sunday: gale-force winds drove flames deeper into the Athens region…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[66,556,797,17,12315,394],"class_list":["post-64752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-greece","tag-spain","tag-wildfires","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}