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Three firefighters killed on Crete and in mainland Greece as Europe battles wildfires

Repeated heatwaves and strong winds alarm experts, who warn blazes are becoming harder to quell Three Greek firefighters have died while tackling wildfires on the island of Crete and in the south of the mainland, the Greek fire department has said, as extreme heat hinders efforts to control blazes ravaging southern Europe . The arc of brutal fires, which runs from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean, and from the Scottish Highlands to the south of Spain , has alarmed experts because many of the fires have been out of control and burning close to towns and cities.

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Scoop News DeskGreece · Published Wednesday, July 29, 2026 at 5:52 PM UTCUpdated Thursday, July 30, 2026 at 3:29 PM UTC

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Temperatures exacerbated by the climate crisis reached 38C on Wednesday in Bordeaux in France, where firefighters kept a huge blaze in nearby pine forests from reaching the suburbs, and 37C in Madrid, west of which Spain’s largest wildfire on record had been “technically stabilised”, according to the interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. New fires also prompted evacuations in Greece – where authorities said two firefighters “fell heroically in the line of duty” while trying to extinguish the fire in Crete – and Turkey.

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Version 2updated
Wednesday, July 29, 2026 at 6:45 PM UTC
Repeated heatwaves and strong winds alarm experts, who warn blazes are becoming harder to quell Three Greek firefighters have died while tackling wildfires on the island of Crete and in the south of the mainland, the Greek fire department has said, as extreme heat hinders efforts to control blazes ravaging southern Europe . The arc of brutal fires, which runs from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean, and from the Scottish Highlands to the south of Spain , has alarmed experts because many of the fires have been out of control and burning close to towns and cities.
Version 3unpublished
Thursday, July 30, 2026 at 3:29 PM UTC
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