Southern Europe is on fire, dangerous forest fires are raging in these places

France

Hectares destroyed: +10,500

Number of evacuees: +/- 14000

Number of deaths: 0

Since Thursday, about 14,000 people have been evacuated from the French Gironde province, where forest fires have been raging for several days. It is the largest wildfire in 32 years. More than 1,200 firefighters have been deployed to control the flames. The regional authorities announced this in a statement.

And another fire, which has already turned to ash on 3100 hectares, took place along the Atlantic coast in the “Dunes” – the highest sand dunes in Europe. The heat is expected to continue in the coming days, with temperatures rising above 40 degrees today.

Spain

Area of ​​hectares destroyed: +5500

Number of evacuees: +/- 3000

The number of deaths: 360 due to the heat

Several wildfires have also broken out in Spain in recent days after days of exceptionally high temperatures, even rising to 45.7 degrees. Those temperatures have already claimed 360 lives, according to figures from the Carlos III Health Institute.

More than 3,000 people have been evacuated near the city of Mijas in Málaga province. Intense wildfires are also burning in the Extremadura region.

Portugal

Hectares destroyed: +39,550

The number of evacuees: 800

Number of deaths: 1 + 238 heat

Since Saturday, temperatures in Portugal have slowly started to drop. In the days before that, record temperatures of 47 degrees were measured, which led to wildfires. The state of emergency has been in effect since last week. About 800 people have already been evacuated from their homes. The fires are mainly located in the north of the country.

In total, 39,550 hectares have already been destroyed by forest fires this year. Data from the Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation shows that this is more than three times the area destroyed by fires during the same period last year.

According to the Portuguese Ministry of Health, 238 people have already died as a result of the extreme temperatures. A pilot was also killed when his firefighting plane crashed.

Croatia

Fires have also broken out along the Adriatic coast in Croatia over the past week. The fires are mainly located around Zaton and Šibenik. More than 3,000 hectares of forest have already been damaged.

Greece

In Greece, firefighters battle wildfires in the area around Frieza, about 50 km southeast of Athens. Also, intense forest fires are raging near Rethymno, on the northern coast of Crete. Seven neighboring villages have already been evacuated. Intense forest fires are also raging on the Greek island of Samos.