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The heat has Europe firmly in its grip. In many places, the record temperatures lead to major fires.
Spain: A forest fire in Tenerife is now causing concern. The flames have already destroyed more than 2150 hectares on the Canary Island, said Regional President Ángel Víctor Torres. 585 residents of La Guancha and four other communities in the north of the island were brought to safety. Numerous foreign hiking tourists had to be warned of the flames at the nearby Teide National Park.
Italy: The Italian fire brigade responded to forest fires more often this summer than a year ago. From July 15th to 21st, more than 32,900 operations were counted, which was around 4,000 more than in the previous year, according to the fire brigade. The firefighters intervened most frequently in Sicily and Puglia. Forest fires have been blazing in the border area of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region for days. A major fire also broke out in Massarosa, Tuscany, where hundreds of people were brought to safety.
Greece: The massive fire in Dadia National Park in north-eastern Greece continues to rage unchecked. The village of Dadia was evacuated, the military and forest workers are on duty to cut aisles in the pine forests and thereby prevent the flames from spreading further. The extinguishing work on the ground and in the air will also continue.
Legend:
Residents are fighting the fire near the village of Vatera on Lesvos.
Reuters
A large fire on the south side of the holiday island of Lesvos also remained uncontrolled, where a village was evacuated on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon, residents of the village of Vrisa were called to leave the village. Several houses and cars burned down. The region was recently hit by strong winds, which further fueled the flames.
The smoke was so thick that it could be seen from space. This was announced by the European earth observation system Copernicus on Twitter.
According to the fire department, 141 fires were registered across Greece within 24 hours. The authorities continue to assess the risk of fire as high. Meteorologists announced high temperatures of up to 40 degrees and drought for the coming days up to the beginning of August.
France: The violent forest fires on the French Atlantic coast south of Bordeaux have not spread further. Some of the residents were able to return to their homes, as the responsible prefecture announced on Twitter. The forest fires that broke out in Landiras and La Teste-de-Buch more than a week ago destroyed more than 20,600 hectares of land. This roughly corresponds to the area of Stuttgart. Thousands of people had to leave their homes as a precaution.
Portugal: A drought that has lasted for weeks and temperatures of up to 47 degrees have so far caused over 25 large and small forest fires (as of Wednesday). According to the government, these are also due to carelessness and arson. According to the nature conservation authority ICNF, fires destroyed almost 60,000 hectares of land in just over six and a half months this year – more than twice as much as in the whole of the previous year.
Czech Republic: A forest fire broke out in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic. The fire extends over an area of around seven hectares not far from the Prebischtor, which is popular with tourists, the national park administration announced on Sunday. Numerous firefighters fought the flames, and a police helicopter and a fire-fighting plane were also deployed.