{"id":295766,"date":"2025-07-27T11:43:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T11:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/295766\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T11:43:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T11:43:20","slug":"firefighters-tackle-blazes-as-wildfires-break-out-in-greece-turkey-and-albania-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/295766\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefighters tackle blazes as wildfires break out in Greece, Turkey and Albania | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Firefighters are battling blazes that have broken out across several countries in southeast Europe, fuelled by dry conditions, high winds and extreme temperatures.<\/p>\n

A firefighter has died and thousands of people have been evacuated in a weekend that has seen dozens of fires scorch forests and burn houses to the ground.<\/p>\n

More than 50 wildfires have erupted in Greece in the past 24 hours, leading to evacuations in some Athens suburbs and a request to the EU for six firefighting planes.<\/p>\n

A politician in Turkey’s fourth-largest city of Bursa described the scene as “an apocalypse” as forests burned and more than 1,100 firefighters tried to control the flames.<\/p>\n

Turkey<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wildfires have engulfed Turkey for weeks, and on Friday the government declared two western provinces, Izmir and Bilecik, disaster areas.<\/p>\n

\"Pic:<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Firefighters battling wildfires in Turkey. Pic: Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry<\/p>\n

\"Pic:<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Firefighters battling wildfires in Turkey. Pic: Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry<\/p>\n

Fire crews confronted 76 separate blazes across the country on Saturday, forestry minister Ibrahim Yamukli said.<\/p>\n

Almost 1,800 people were forced to flee their homes in villages to the northeast of Bursa, where a firefighter died from a heart attack while on the job, the city’s mayor, Mustafa Bozbey, said.<\/p>\n

Orhan Saribal, an opposition parliamentarian for the province, described the scene as “an apocalypse”.<\/p>\n

Turkey recorded its highest ever temperature of 50.5C (123F) in the southeastern Sirnak province on Friday.<\/p>\n

Fourteen people have died in recent weeks, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed on Wednesday in a fire in the west of the country.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Image:
\n A wildfire rages across a forested area near Cavuslar village, in Karabuk district, northwest Turkey.
\nIHA\/AP<\/p>\n

Greece<\/strong><\/p>\n

Parts of Athens have been evacuated after more than 50 wildfires broke out in 24 hours.<\/p>\n

People living in the suburb of Kryoneri, around 12.5 miles (20 km) northeast of the Greek capital, were told to move to safe areas on Saturday.<\/p>\n

At least five people, most of them elderly with respiratory problems, have been treated in hospital for burns or smoke inhalation.<\/p>\n

\"Firefighters<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Firefighters battling a wildfire on the island of Kythira. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Image:
\n The sun sets behind the Acropolis hill as smoke from a nearby wildfire fills the sky. Pic: AP<\/p>\n

Photos showed houses and tree-covered hills on fire as temperatures hit 38C (100F) and dry conditions and high winds fanned the flames.<\/p>\n

Fire service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyannis said that under such conditions, wildfires “expand very quickly and become dangerous”, adding: “These conditions are expected to prevail over the coming days.”<\/p>\n

There have been reports of damage, he said, and authorities “will take stock when the fires have been put out”.<\/p>\n

At least 335 firefighters are also battling three major fires on Greece’s two largest islands – Crete in the south and Evia north of Athens – and also on the island of Kythera, northwest of Crete.<\/p>\n

Greece has also received support from the Czech Republic, with a fire service based there saying they sent a team to support Greek firefighters battling a forest blaze near the town of Nea Artaki.<\/p>\n

\"Locals<\/p>\n

Image:
\n People try to extinguish flames rising from a burning house in the village of Kryoneri, near Athens. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

\"Firefighters<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Firefighters in Kryoneri in Athens. Pic: AP<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Image:
\n A firefighter tries to extinguish blazes in the Athens suburb of Kryoneri. Pic: AP<\/p>\n

Read more on Sky News:<\/strong>
Israel pauses Gaza fighting amid hunger crisis<\/strong><\/a>
11 stabbed in US store<\/strong><\/a>
Can England beat Spain to win Euros?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Albania<\/strong><\/p>\n

In neighbouring Albania, 26 fires broke out throughout the country on Saturday, following a large fire near the southern Albanian town of Delvina on Friday, which injured three people and forced the evacuation of about 2,000 residents.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Emergency crews near Bulqiza in Albania. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

Kosovo<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Kosovo, firefighters managed to extinguish 17 blazes fuelled by strong winds while 12 others remained active, officials said.<\/p>\n

Eight cows were killed in the southern town of Prizren, after a fire engulfed a farm, local emergency services said while 40 sheep died in a fire in the east of the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Firefighters are battling blazes that have broken out across several countries in southeast Europe, fuelled by dry conditions,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-295766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114925024949819476","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}