Several European countries face various wildfire outbreaks this Friday that are ravaging the continent, which is experiencing its fifth heatwave of the year. After unprecedented forest fires in France, the fire is once again hitting the southwest of the country, which is experiencing its driest year on record. Certain localities in central England, coastal areas of Croatia and Greece, eastern Germany, and northern Italy are also suffering from the flames.
France on maximum alert
In France, the fire shows no respite. After the violent fires two weeks ago in the departments of Gironde and Landes, in the southwest of the country, which destroyed more than 45,000 hectares in just a few days and forced the evacuation of 220,000 people. About fifty firefighters are trying to extinguish a new fire that broke out this Thursday afternoon in Landes, which has burned 1,100 hectares in a few hours and 500 people have had to leave their homes. In Pas-de-Calais, in the north of the country, another fire declared on Wednesday has been contained thanks to the intervention of aerial means, although it is not yet extinguished.
This is already the worst summer in terms of fires in France, with 115,000 hectares burned since mid-July. It is double the total area burned in 2022, which was another devastating summer, and equals 11 times the size of Paris. Firefighters’ unions met this Thursday with the Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez, to denounce the lack of resources and have called for mobilizations at the end of September. On Monday they will meet with the Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, who will go to Gironde to present new measures. The French President, Emmanuel Macron, will interrupt his vacation to also meet with the mayors of the municipalities affected by another fire in the department of Var, in the south of the country.
With the whole country on alert due to the heatwave, Météo France, the meteorological agency, has declared maximum fire watch in four departments and another 57 are on high alert. According to data from the Ministry of the Interior, a total of 474 people involved in the various fires have been arrested since early July.
Risky fire extinguishing in Germany
In Germany, the high temperatures and prolonged drought have favored numerous forests being on fire and maintaining a high risk of fires throughout the country. Currently, the most serious is a forest fire in the municipality of Hürtgenwald, in the Eifel region, in North Rhine-Westphalia, which has forced the evacuation of 1,800 people.
The Nina alert app shows the highest alert level: “Extreme danger.” According to the Hürtgenwald City Council, a total of 300 hectares of forest have already burned and there are still numerous embers. It also speaks of a “situation of severe damage” in the Eifel region, near Belgium, where just under 9,000 people live.
Firefighters have been fighting the fire since Thursday afternoon. So far, no injuries have been reported, according to a spokesperson for this body on Friday. The cause of the fire remains unclear.
Extinguishing efforts are also hindered by the presence of World War II ammunition. “The terrain is very complicated and, due to the large amount of ammunition, we cannot send firefighters individually with extinguishing backpacks,” said Ralf Nolten, president of the Düren district, to the German Press Agency, about an area where one of the longest battles of the war on the Western Front was fought. “We have also heard detonations,” he added.
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Additionally, in the Aachen region, numerous smaller fires occurred this Thursday, such as in Merzenich. Firefighters were also called to intervene in Sauerland, among other places, in Sundern, where the fire spread over an area of about 80,000 square meters (eight hectares). Fires have also been reported at Lake Möhnesee, in Marsberg, and in Hellefelder Höhe, near Arnsberg.
Firefighters also responded to several forest fires in Oberbergisches Land. In Lindlar, a 20,000 square meter forest fire was reported with more than one hundred personnel. Meanwhile, in Lingen, Lower Saxony, about 3,000 square meters of forest have burned.
The high temperatures forecast for this weekend across the country — which in some areas may exceed 35 degrees — have led the Meteorological Service (DWD) to issue level 5 alert, the highest on the forest fire risk scale, in areas of Brandenburg, Baden-Württemberg, and Rhineland-Palatinate.
Flames in Croatia, Greece, Italy, and England
In Croatia, a large fire that broke out Thursday night in a tourist area about 25 kilometers south of the coastal city of Split, on the Adriatic Sea, has caused 14 injuries — seven in critical condition. The victims remain hospitalized this Friday due to burns suffered.
On the Aegean Sea coast, the Greek peninsula of Halkidiki, firefighters already have a fire under control that forced the evacuation on Thursday of at least 446 people from the Siviri and Fourka tourist complexes. Residents and tourists were gathered on the beach and moved north to Sani and the city of Thessaloniki, reports the newspaper Kathimerini. Initial estimates speak of about 400 hectares of forest burned.
A forest fire declared near the well-known Lake Como, in northern Italy, forced the evacuation this Friday of about fifty residents due to the deterioration of air quality caused by smoke. The flames started Thursday night in the vegetation on the slopes of Mount Goj and spread rapidly, fueled by the wind.
After the United Kingdom recorded its hottest day of the year on Thursday, fires spread through West Midlands and several houses were reduced to ashes. It is “one of the most serious incidents” firefighters in the region have faced, said the service chief, Simon Tuhill, in statements collected by The Independent.
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