Thousands Battle Greece Fires As Heatwave Bakes Europe

Greece on Wednesday battled to contain more than 20 wildfires including one menacing its third-largest city Patras as a heatwave stoked blazes and forced the evacuation of thousands in southern Europe.

Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, the Balkans and Britain have this week wilted in high temperatures that fuel wildfires and which scientists say human-induced climate change is intensifying.

Since dawn on Wednesday, 4,850 firefighters and 33 planes were mobilised across Greece on what promised to be "a very difficult day", fire service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said.

Fierce wind "is hampering the task of water bombers, and is making collecting water at sea more difficult", the president of the firefighter officers' union, Kostas Tsigkas, told public broadcaster ERT.

An AFP journalist saw residents and firefighters backed by helicopters frantically attempt to douse flames in scrubland and forests outside Patras, with thick smoke reducing visibility.

Officials evacuated a Patras children's hospital and a retirement home as a precaution, and local media footage showed the roof of a 17th century monastery outside the city on fire.

Other fronts were burning on the popular Ionian tourist islands of Zante and Cephalonia and the Aegean island of Chios, scarred by a huge wildfire in June that ravaged more than 4,000 hectares.

Around 20 villages were evacuated in the western Achaia region on Tuesday, while the Greek coastguard said nearly 80 people were removed from Chios and near Patras.

The national ambulance service reported more than 50 hospitalisations, including "a small number of firefighters", mostly for respiratory problems and minor burns.

After Greece requested four water bombers from the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to bolster its resources, the main opposition PASOK Socialist party questioned the conservative government's preparedness for fires that strike every year.

"A fully reformed civil protection system with an emphasis on prevention is required," PASOK said, identifying a poor coordination of forces and a lack of local emergency plans that made firefighting "extremely challenging".

Wildfires continued to dominate the news in Spain, where cooler temperatures and greater humidity were expected to help control blazes in which two people have died.

Authorities in the northwestern region of Castile and Leon, where flames have threatened a world heritage Roman mining site, said almost 6,000 people from 26 localities had been evacuated from their homes.

The regional government said seven people had been admitted to hospital for burns, including four in critical condition.

Bushy undergrowth and searing temperatures that have baked Spain for almost two weeks had created "the worst possible breeding ground for this situation", said Castile and Leon's civil protection head Irene Cortes.

A total of 199 wildfires have scorched nearly 98,784 hectares across Spain this year, more than double the area burned during the same period in 2024.

Neighbouring Portugal deployed more than 2,100 firefighters and 20 aircraft against five major blazes, with efforts focused on a fire in the central municipality of Trancoso that has raged since Saturday.

Strong gusts of wind had rekindled flames overnight and threatened nearby villages, where television images showed locals volunteering to help firefighters under a thick cloud of smoke.

"It's scary... but we are always ready to help each other," a mask-wearing farmer told Sic Noticias television, holding a spade in his hand.

A separate fire in a mountainous zone of Arganil in central Portugal smothered several villages with smoke, prompting the evacuation of elderly residents in particular.

Dozens of blazes continued to stretch emergency services in the Balkans, where a severe drought and a prolonged heatwave have exacerbated the region's traditional fire season.

An 80-year-old man died in Albania late Tuesday after he lost control of a fire he had started in his garden. The blaze quickly spread to neighbouring homes, injuring eight people.

Authorities have evacuated residents in parts of central and southern Albania, but easing weather conditions in neighbouring Montenegro helped firefighters protect homes.

The country mourned a soldier who died in a water truck overturn near the capital Podgorica on Tuesday, with the defence ministry speaking of a "heavy loss".

Temperatures were expected to peak at 34C in historically temperate Britain's fourth heatwave of the summer.

The UK Health Security Agency warned of "significant impacts" on health and social care services for the parts of central and southeastern England suffering the harshest heat.