Images in the south of the European continent that resonate with that of Gironde where more than 5,000 hectares have vanished in recent days. From Portugal to Turkey, fires are raging across southern Europe, ravaged by a sweltering heat wave.
In Greece, a battle against the flames on Wednesday left two dead when a helicopter crashed into the sea while trying to put out a forest fire on the island of Samos, the coast guard announced Thursday. Only one of the four crew members was found alive.
Fires even more serious in Greece than in 2021
Although it is early to take stock, the Greek authorities have already indicated that this season’s fires could be even more devastating than those of last summer, dramatically historic, which had already devastated 130,000 hectares.
In Portugal, the fire has destroyed more than 13,000 hectares in recent days. Fanned by scorching heat, the fires of the last week have left one dead and some 60 injured, 860 people have been evacuated and some 60 houses have been destroyed or damaged.
In Spain, the most worrying fire has already destroyed at least 4,000 hectares in a mountainous area straddling the regions of Extremadura and Castilla y León, not far from Portugal.
Global warming in question
In southwestern Turkey, flames erupted near the village of Mesudiye, near the Aegean Sea resort of Datca, threatening dozens of homes in the area.
The fires that are increasing in Europe are associated with several phenomena anticipated by scientists due to global warming. According to them, unequivocally repeated heat waves and heat waves are expected to multiply, prolong and intensify: an ideal combination for fire development.
Source: BFM TV
