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Outside the Greek port city of Patras, firefighters struggled to
protect homes and agricultural facilities as flames tore through
olive groves.
As water-dropping planes and helicopters swooped overhead,
residents joined the effort, beating back flames with cut
branches or dousing them with buckets of water.
Firefighting resources were stretched thin in many affected
countries as they battled multiple outbreaks following weeks of
heat waves and temperature spikes across Mediterranean Europe.
Aircraft rotated between blazes on the western Greek mainland,
the Patras area and the island of Zakynthos. Athens also sent
assistance to neighboring Albania, joining an international
effort to combat dozens of wildfires. An 80-year-old man died in
one blaze south of the capital, Tirana, officials said
Wednesday.
Residents of four villages were evacuated in central Albania
near a former army ammunition depot. In the southern Korca
district, near the Greek border, explosions were reported from
buried World War II-era artillery shells.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed condolences after
the death of a firefighting volunteer in the hard-hit Castile
and León region north of Madrid, where thousands have been
displaced by evacuations.
The government raised its national emergency response level,
preparing additional support for regional authorities overseeing
multiple evacuations and highway closures.
A forestry worker was also killed Wednesday while responding to
a wildfire in southern Turkey, officials said. The Forestry
Ministry said the worker died in an accident involving a fire
truck that left four others injured.
Turkey has been battling severe wildfires since late June. A
total of 18 people have been killed, including 10 rescue
volunteers and forestry workers who died in July.
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