Firefighters who helped contain France’s largest wildfire in decades are on high alert because of forecasts of very high temperatures that could reignite the blaze in the south of the country.
The fire in France’s Aude wine country claimed one life and quickly spread over more than 62 square miles over three days in hot and dry weather, forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes.
Local authorities said they need to remain vigilant throughout the weekend because temperatures are expected to rise above 30C during another heatwave.
Meanwhile, fires prompted evacuations elsewhere in the Mediterranean region, with authorities ordering evacuations near the Greek capital and in northern Turkey, where officials also had to temporarily suspend maritime traffic through the Dardanelles due to the smoke.
In France, Aude administrator Christian Pouget said 1,000 people had not yet been able to return to their homes after the fire swept through 15 communes in the Corbieres mountain region, destroying or damaging at least 36 homes.
One person died at home and at least 21 others were injured, including 16 firefighters, according to local authorities.
Some 1,300 homes were still without electricity on Friday morning after infrastructure was extensively damaged, the Aude prefecture said.
Residents have been warned not to return home without authorisation, as many roads remain blocked and dangerous. Those forced to flee have been housed in emergency shelters across 17 municipalities.
Many fled to the community of Tuchan when the fire started on Tuesday, its mayor Beatrice Bertrand told the Associated Press.
“We have received and hosted over 200 people. We gave them food, thanks to local businesses who opened their stores despite it being very late,” Ms Bertrand said. “Civil Protection brought us beds. And also the local villagers offered their homes to welcome them. It was their first night here and many were shocked and scared.”
An investigation is under way to determine what sparked the fire.
Authorities said the fire was the largest recorded since France’s national fire database was created in 2006, but the minister for ecological transition, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, went further, calling the blaze the worst since 1949 and linking it to climate change.
The Mediterranean basin has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.
Last month, a wildfire that reached the southern port of Marseille, France’s second-largest city, injured around 300 people.
Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
In Greece, a fast-moving wildfire on Friday forced a series of evacuations south east of Athens, approaching residential areas as firefighters battled strong winds.
The blaze advanced over scrub-covered hillsides in the Keratea region, spreading through an area with scattered homes 25 miles from the capital.
The Fire Service said one man was found dead during evacuation. As the flames tore through clusters of homes, gas canisters used for cooking exploded, cars went up in flames and residents battled from porches to save their homes.
Firefighting planes and helicopters swooped over the flames that sent thick black clouds of smokes toward coastal areas. Authorities deployed 190 firefighters supported by volunteers, and police blocked traffic in the area to allow fire engines through.
Strong winds disrupted ferry services at ports around Athens.
A wildfire fuelled by strong winds in north-west Turkey prompted authorities to evacuate a university campus and an elderly care home and to suspend some maritime traffic on Friday, reports said.
The flow of ships through the Dardanelles Strait was temporarily halted due to heavy smoke and reduced visibility in the narrow waterway.
The fire broke out at an agricultural field near Saricaeli village, in Canakkale province, before spreading rapidly into a nearby forested area.
With the flames approaching dangerously close to the care home and a campus of Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, both facilities were evacuated as a precaution, the Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media reported.
Footage aired by Haberturk TV showed a fire engine being engulfed in flames, forcing firefighters to flee.
