Dozens of villages and tourist resorts were evacuated on Sunday as fires escalated in several countries in southern Europe, destroying several regions in Greece, Italy and Spain, amid expectations of a massive heat wave that will peak next week.
These countries on the Mediterranean Sea this summer are witnessing a sharp rise in temperatures and more forest fires than usual.
In Greece, a huge fire broke out in the forests of the western Peloponnese peninsula in the south of the country, where rescue teams raced to control the fire, which is considered the second of its kind in just two days, while 4 villages were evacuated near the third largest city of Patras.
The authorities warned of the widening of the fires caused by the heat wave, which is expected to reach its peak next week, reaching 45 degrees Celsius.
Greece sees wildfires every summer, but experts have warned that climate warming is increasing their frequency and intensity.
A heat wave has swept the country since Friday, with temperatures ranging between 42 and 44 degrees Celsius, according to meteorologists.
Effects of a fire in an area on the island of Sicily (Anatolia)
Hundreds of fires in Italy
In Italy, firefighters have monitored the outbreak of more than 800 fires throughout the country, especially in the southern part of it, since Saturday, according to what they announced in a tweet on Twitter on Sunday, at a time when the country is recording high temperatures in recent days.
"During the past 24 hours, firefighters carried out more than 800 interventions, including 250 in Sicily, 130 in Puglia and Calabria, 90 in Lazio (Rome region) and 70 in Campania," while firefighting teams continue their work in 3 other cities, the tweet read.
Italy has been affected in recent days by a significant rise in temperatures, which approached 40 degrees Celsius in Bari (Puglia region) and 39 in Catania and Palermo (Sicily).
The heat and lack of rain led to the outbreak of numerous fires, one of which last weekend destroyed more than 20,000 hectares of forests, olive fields and crops in the Oristano region, in western Sardinia.
While the flames erupt in the south, the north suffers from severe thunderstorms and hail, causing damage estimated at tens of millions of euros.
In Spain, which was affected in mid-July by a fire in a nature reserve on the Catalan coast near the French-Spanish border, firefighters were battling at the weekend a fire near the “San Juan” reservoir, about 70 kilometers east of Madrid.