Europe swelters in heatwaves as wildfires plague Greece: ‘Almost every 10 minutes a new fire breaks out’

Firefighters used aircraft to contain a blaze in Kitsi, southeast of the capital, but not before several properties were engulfed in flames, television footage showed. That fire, close to the main highway connecting to Athens International Airport, was lit deliberately, according to Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias.

“We have visual material that clearly shows an arsonist setting fire to dry grass,” he said Wednesday in a televised statement.

Europe is bracing for yet another summer of extreme weather events and record-breaking temperatures as climate change increases the intensity of heat waves. London, Paris and Berlin are all preparing scorching weather next week. Greece has already witnessed a record high for June. 

Evacuations were ordered as the Greek fire service focused its efforts on Wednesday evening on blazes in the central region of Magnesia and Argolida in Peloponnese. A fire also broke on the island of Lesvos, following another on Naxos earlier in the day.

“Almost every 10 minutes a new fire breaks out,” fire service spokesman said in a televised statement. 

The fire risk in the #Mediterranean region has worsened in several countries since yesterday, according to today’s #EFFIS Fire Danger Forecast 🔥

🔴”Very High” and 🟤”Extreme” danger levels are present in 🇪🇸🇫🇷🇮🇹🇬🇷🇹🇷🇨🇾🇹🇳🇩🇿🇲🇦

More at👇https://t.co/XL7jHVJGC3 pic.twitter.com/jObZSSai9k

— Copernicus EMS (@CopernicusEMS) June 18, 2024

Greece’s National Meteorological Service is predicting winds as strong as 74 kilometers (46 miles) per hour over the rest of the week, compounding a spell of hot and dry conditions. Temperatures in parts of the mainland were forecast to climb as high as 41C (106F) on Wednesday, and remain near that level on Thursday.

“Even the smallest fire can rapidly turn into a fiery front,” Kikilias said in an X post, commenting on the arrest of a man who accidentally triggered a fire on Tuesday near the city of Serres in northern Greece.

Last year, wildfires forced mass evacuations across Greece, threatening the livelihoods of locals who depend on summer visitors. About 1.3% of the Mediterranean nation’s land area was scorched in 2023, four times the average of the previous 17 years.

Heat Waves

Forecasts point to even hotter temperatures across Europe this year. Extreme weather is again hitting the Northern Hemisphere from California to India, bringing fires, floods and violent storms. Texas was hit by the worst wildfire in almost two decades earlier this year.

Heat is forecast to spread across Europe next week, with capital cities in the UK, France and Germany all reaching at least 30C on June 27, according to Weather Services International. 

Greenhouse gas pollution made last year 1.3C hotter than before the Industrial Revolution. This May marked the 12th-consecutive month of record-breaking average temperatures for the planet, and the oceans have registered new levels of heat every day for over a year. That’s caused freak rain and hail, more destructive storms and a higher frequency of wildfires.