Dozens of villages were evacuated in tourist hotspots in southern Turkey on Sunday as wildfires that have claimed six lives raged for the fifth day, while Greece, Italy and Spain were also hit by blazes.
Soaring temperatures, strong winds and climate change have caused this year’s fire season to be significantly more destructive than the previous average, EU data shows.
Turkey is suffering through its worst fires in at least a decade with nearly 95,000 hectares burnt so far this year, compared with an average of 13,516 at this point in the year between 2008 and 2020.
Turkey’s defence ministry released satellite images showing the extent of the damage, with forest areas turned black and smoke still visible.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been criticised after it emerged that Turkey had no firefighting planes despite one-third of its territory being forested and fires becoming an increasing problem.
According to EU figures, Turkey has been hit by 133 wildfires in 2021 so far compared with an average of 43 by this point in the year between 2008 and 2020.
Firefighters were also battling fires in Greece, after a major blaze broke out early Saturday near Patras in the west.Around 20 homes have been burnt down, according to a provisional figure from the fire brigade.
According to EU data, 13,500 hectares had been burnt in Greece, compared with an average of 7,500 at this point in the year from 2008-2020.
Elsewhere, Italy was again hit by fires after more than 20,000 hectares of forest, olive groves and crops were destroyed by a blaze in Sardinia last weekend.
More than 800 flare-ups were recorded this weekend, mainly in the south, Italy’s fire brigade said.
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