Wildfires rage in Spain, Greece and Portugal as poisonous smoke warnings issued throughout Europe
Hundreds of firefighters have been battling wildfires across southern Europe with Spain and Italy sending reinforcements to Portugal to help tackle a massive three day long blaze
Record-breaking heat waves and scant rainfall turned forests and fields into tinderboxes
Hundreds of firefighters have tackled wildfires across Portugal, Greece and Spain this Sunday afternoon. Spain and Italy have dispatched reinforcements to Portugal to assist with an enormous blaze that has been raging for more than three days.
Officials advised residents in areas of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, to stay indoors and close their windows and doors due to poisonous smoke from a burning recycling facility that was consumed by a wildfire. Another significant wildfire erupted Sunday afternoon west of the Greek capital, Athens.
The fire service reported that 210 firefighters, supported by volunteers, specialist teams and 29 aircraft, including water-dropping planes and helicopters, were deployed to combat the blaze tearing through pine forest in the Mandra region.
Officials were rushing to control the fire before nightfall, when aircrafts can no longer conduct firefighting operations, reports the Express. In central Portugal’s Vouzela region, more than 1,200 firefighters supported by nearly 400 vehicles and 15 aircraft attempted to extinguish a blaze which started on Thursday, according to the Civil Protection authority.
The wildfire had scorched an area of 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) by Sunday, data from the European Union’s Copernicus satellite mapping agency revealed.
The EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid confirmed that Spain sent 120 firefighters and 45 vehicles as reinforcements to Portugal on Friday, while three firefighting aircraft from Italy and Spain were also sent to assist. By Sunday afternoon, the blaze seemed to be subsiding slightly, with Portuguese media citing officials who stated it no longer possessed major active fronts, though some hotspots persisted.
In Spain, a wildfire raging since Friday in the north-eastern Girona region had consumed nearly 2,200 hectares (5,400 acres), according to the EFE news agency. Catalan Fire Service operations chief Eduard Martinez revealed the inferno had a perimeter of 40 kilometres (25 miles) and firefighters might not manage to contain it on Sunday, EFE reported.
In Greece, a rapidly spreading blaze at a recycling facility erupted Saturday evening near the Oraiokastro suburb of Thessaloniki, prompting evacuation warnings for three suburbs and a facility housing 157 people with disabilities.
Powerful winds fuelled the flames, and approximately 160 firefighters were dispatched to combat the fire throughout the night until water-dropping aircraft could launch at dawn, the fire department confirmed.
Oraiokastro mayor Pandelis Tsakiris told Greece’s state broadcaster ERT that several businesses and homes sustained damage but a clearer assessment would emerge after authorities complete a comprehensive evaluation.
A 76-year-old man was detained on suspicion of having ignited the blaze through carelessness by creating sparks with his vehicle that set roadside vegetation ablaze, the fire department announced.
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