by Patras, Greece,/Madrid (Reuters) -Wildfires, which were divided by a heat wave and strong winds, continued in southern Europe on Wednesday, burn houses, farms and factories and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents and tourists.
Flames and dark smoke swayed over a cement factory that was exposed by a forest fire that swept through olive groves and forests and disturbed the rail traffic on the edge of the Greek city of Patras in northern Peloponnes west of Athens.
“What does it look like? It looks like Doomsday. May God help us and help people here,” said Giorgos Karvanis, a volunteer who had come from Athens to Patras to help.
The authorities ordered residents of a city with around 7,700 people near Patras to evacuate on Tuesday, and issued new notifications on Wednesday to advise the residents of two nearby villages to leave their houses.
On the Greek Islands of Chios in the east and Cephalonia in the west, both popular with tourists, the authorities asked people to get themselves to safety while fires were spreading.
In Spain, a volunteer fireman died of serious burns and several people were hospitalized when the state weather authority Aemet warned that almost the entire country is extreme or very a high risk of fire. The 35-year-old man had tried to create firebrug near the city of Nogarejas in the Central Castile and Leon region when he was caught in the flame, said regional officials.
Firefighters hid blazing houses and warehouses in villages in Castile and Leon, where more than 5,000 people were evacuated.
The leader of the Galicia region in the northwest, Alfonso Rueda, described the situation “complicated” there and said the weather does not help. Six active fires had an impact in Galicia’s Oursese province together with 38 square kilometers (38 square miles).
Suspected arson
The Spanish Environment Minister Sara Aageese told the Ser radio station that many fire in the whole country were deliberately caused by arson due to their “virulence”, but it was too early to say how many.
In Albania, Defense Minister Pirro Vengu said it was a “critical week”, and several large forest fires are burning across the country.
In the southern city of Delvina, the evacuated returned to their houses, but the authorities remained vigilant.
Attempts to enlarge the fires were hindered by a heat wave over large parts of the continent.
Spain was on the 10th day of a heat wave, which reached up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday and the Aemet is expected to last until Monday, which made it one of the longest.
Pope Leo transferred his weekly audience from St. Peter’s Square to a central defender in the Vatican to “keep out of the sun and the extreme heat” when the Ministry of Health of Italy issued extreme heat warnings for 16 cities on Wednesday, with the temperatures in Florence with a peak of 39 ° C (102f).
(Reporting by Louiza Vradi, David Latona and Gavin Jones; writing by Charlie Devereux; Editor of Alex Richardson)
