Wildfires in Greece Kill 3 Firefighters as Blazes Still Burn in France and Spain
Greece also worked to contain blazes on Lesbos and in the Peloponnese, where another firefighter died, in the midst of a brutal wildfire season for Europe. Greece battled a wildfire on Thursday on the island of Crete that has killed two firefighters and forced thousands to flee. The flames were the latest in a series of blazes that have charred Europe this summer and tested its ability to deal with increasingly extreme weather . More than 220 firefighters were tackling the wildfire in Crete, which broke out on Wednesday in the area of Krya Vrysi, in the south of the island. The fire, one of several that the Greek authorities were trying to contain on Thursday, was being fueled by strong wind, complicating efforts to put out the flames. “The winds are so intense that aircraft can’t operate,” Giorgos Tsapakos, the deputy regional governor for Crete, told state television on Thursday morning.
The text below was supplied by the Scoop Newsroom app. Third-party reporting is attributed in the source panel.
Those had been mostly contained by Thursday, officials said, but they have caused alarm across the continent, where climate change is fueling extreme temperatures and making wildfires more widespread . Evangelos Tournas, Greece’s minister of climate crisis and civil protection, said late Wednesday that the two firefighters who died in Crete were 58 and 25 years old.
Dated changes to this report are shown here as they are published.
Version 2updated
Greece also worked to contain blazes on Lesbos and in the Peloponnese, where another firefighter died, in the midst of a brutal wildfire season for Europe. Greece battled a wildfire on Thursday on the island of Crete that has killed two firefighters and forced thousands to flee. The flames were the latest in a series of blazes that have charred Europe this summer and tested its ability to deal with increasingly extreme weather . More than 220 firefighters were tackling the wildfire in Crete, which broke out on Wednesday in the area of Krya Vrysi, in the south of the island.
Version 3unpublished
Removed by Scoope Timeline eligibility policy
Version 4updated
Greece also worked to contain blazes on Lesbos and in the Peloponnese, where another firefighter died, in the midst of a brutal wildfire season for Europe. Greece battled a wildfire on Thursday on the island of Crete that has killed two firefighters and forced thousands to flee. The flames were the latest in a series of blazes that have charred Europe this summer and tested its ability to deal with increasingly extreme weather . More than 220 firefighters were tackling the wildfire in Crete, which broke out on Wednesday in the area of Krya Vrysi, in the south of the island. The fire, one of several that the Greek authorities were trying to contain on Thursday, was being fueled by strong wind, complicating efforts to put out the flames. “The winds are so intense that aircraft can’t operate,” Giorgos Tsapakos, the deputy regional governor for Crete, told state television on Thursday morning.
