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Greece orders evacuations as gale-force winds fuel wildfire crisis
AP News • • general
Key Points:
- Wildfires in Europe have intensified into three major fronts: worsening flames near Athens driven by gale-force winds, a massive ongoing fire in southwestern France, and stabilized but uncontained fires in Spain.
- In Greece, the western Attica region faces urgent threats to communities and industrial areas, with evacuations underway and firefighting efforts hampered by strong winds preventing water collection by aircraft.
- France’s Gironde megafire, covering 420 square kilometers, remains contained but active, having displaced 224,000 people in one of the country’s largest civilian evacuations; a second fire in Provence is stabilized but not yet contained.
- Spain’s major fires have stopped advancing, allowing most evacuees to return home, though emergency crews continue to guard perimeters amid a season marked by record wildfires and fatalities.
- Scientists link the severity of these fires to human-caused climate change, with Europe experiencing rapid warming that has increased the likelihood and intensity of extreme fire-weather conditions.
