‘Like a blowtorch’: Mediterranean gripped by
wildfires as blazes spread in Croatia, Portugal
‘There is no magical defence mechanism,’ says Greek
prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis as fires burn in northern Africa and
southern Europe
Helen
Sullivan and agencies
Wed 26 Jul
2023 06.05 BST
Wildfires
were burning in at least nine countries across the Mediterranean as blazes
spread in Croatia and Portugal, with thousands of firefighters in Europe and
north Africa working in extreme heat to contain flames stoked by high
temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.
High
temperatures and parched ground sparked wildfires in countries on both sides of
the Mediterranean, with at least 34 people killed in Algeria, where 8,000
firefighters on Tuesday battled blazes across the tinder-dry north. Fires
burned in a total of 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of more than 1,500
people.
Witnesses
described fleeing walls of flames that raged “like a blowtorch”, destroying
homes and coastal resorts, and turning vast forest areas into blackened
wastelands.
The
Algerian online news site TSA quoted the National Meteorological Office as
saying that temperatures had soared to around 50C (122F) in some regions.
Among those
killed were 10 soldiers trapped by flames at Beni Ksila, in Bejaia province,
according to the defence ministry. The official APS news agency reported Monday
night that 34 people had died across several regions, or “wilayas”.
Local media
reflected anger about the latest deadly fires. The TSA news site asked, “in
view of all these measures, why couldn’t we avoid the disaster?”
Fanned by
strong winds, fires also forced the closure of two border crossings with
neighbouring Tunisia, where fires have been especially fierce in the
north-western Tabarka region.
More than
300 people were evacuated from the coastal village of Melloula by boat and
overland and firefighters were still battling blazes on Tuesday in three areas
in the north-west: Bizerte, Siliana and Beja. Firefighters struggled to
extinguish flames destroying forests and citrus and hazelnut groves.
The
official TAP news agency reported one death, a school principal who died of
asphyxiation from a fire in Nafza, in the north-west.
Wildfires
also broke out in the woodlands of Latakia, a governorate on the Mediterranean
in north-western Syria. “Firefighting teams are working to put out the massive
wildfires that have broken out in the woods of Latakia northern countryside
which are still uncontrolled until now,” the North Press Agency reported
firefighters as saying on Tuesday, with helicopters used to extinguish fires.
Italy has
been hit by both violent storms and wildfires. At least seven people were
killed Italy on Tuesday after storms in the north and wildfires in Sicily.
Among those
killed was a 16-year-old girl, prime minister Giorgia Meloni said. She died
when a tree fell on her tent during a scout camp near Brescia, after high winds
and torrential rain overnight.
Milan
residents reported torrential rain and hail on Tuesday morning, which flooded
streets and uprooted trees, many of which fell on to parked cars.
Even as the
north was drenched, the heatwave across the south persisted, with temperatures
of 47.6C (117F) recorded in the eastern Sicilian city of Catania on Monday. The
bodies of two people in the 70s were found in a house destroyed by the flames,
while an 88-year-old woman was found near the Sicilian city of Palermo,
according to media reports.
Sicily’s
regional president Renato Schifani said he planned to ask the government ahead
of a Wednesday ministers’ meeting to declare a state of emergency for the
island.
“We are
experiencing in Italy one of the most complicated days in recent decades –
rainstorms, tornadoes and giant hail in the north, and scorching heat and
devastating fires in the centre and south,” said civil protection minister
Nello Musumeci.
Writing on
Facebook, he added: “The climate upheaval that has hit our country demands of
us all … a change of attitude.”
Greece has
also been particularly hard hit this summer, with authorities evacuating more
than 20,000 people in recent days from homes and resorts in the south of the
holiday island of Rhodes.
Close to
3,000 tourists had returned home by plane as of Tuesday, according to figures
from the transport ministry, and tour operators have cancelled upcoming trips.
Two
firefighting pilots died when their plane, which had been dropping water,
crashed on a hillside close to the town of Karystos on the island of Evia, east
of Athens.
Greek prime
minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said: “I will state the obvious: in the face of
what the entire planet is facing, especially the Mediterranean which is a
climate change hotspot, there is no magical defence mechanism, if there was we
would have implemented it.”
In France,
nearly 100 firefighters were using a helicopter to contain a wildfire in the
municipalities of Cagnes-sur-Mer and Villeneuve-Loubet, close to Nice
international airport, officials said on Tuesday.
The
Bouches-du-Rhone department on Tuesday was placed under a “red alert”, with
authorities seeing a “very high risk” of wildfires. More 300 firefighters were
battling to contain fires near the city of Arles, police said.
In Croatia,
winds were so strong that firefighting aircraft could not take off, local media
reported. Firefighters battled wildfires that were spreading just south of the
Croatian Adriatic city of Dubrovnik, a tourism destination, late on Tuesday.
Winds
brought disaster to neighbouring Montenegro, where two people drowned and
several were injured when strong southern winds hit the coast, port authorities
in the towns of Ulcinj and Petrovac said.
Meanwhile a
rapidly spreading wildfire at the centre of Spain’s island of Gran Canaria on
Tuesday forced authorities to remove several hundred villagers, shut three
roads and deploy firefighting helicopters.
Antonio
Morales, head of the Island Council of Gran Canaria, said about 100 firefighters
and nine aircraft were working to put out the blaze that has so far burned
through 200 hectares of forest.
In
Portugal, usually one of Europe’s worst-hit by wildfires, according to EU data,
hundreds of Portuguese firefighters scrambled on Tuesday to put out flames near
the popular holiday destination of Cascais, with strong winds complicating
efforts.
The
wildfire started in a mountainous area of the Sintra-Cascais park, which covers
about 145 sq km (56 sq miles) west of Lisbon.
Backed by
189 vehicles, more than 600 firefighters were brought in after the fire
erupted. Water-bombing planes also battled the blaze but had to stop operating
as the night set in.
The mayor
of Cascais, Carlos Carreiras, said gusts of up to 60km/h (37mph) were the
biggest challenge, and that some people had been evacuated as a precaution.
Portugal is
facing widespread drought, with 90% of the country affected.
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