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LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — US authorities said Saturday they were searching for five people missing as a huge wildfire raged in northern California, leaving two towns in little more than cinders. The Dixie Fire, the largest active wildfire in the United States, recently became the third-largest in California history. As of Saturday it had blackened 446,723 acres (180,782 hectares) in four counties, up from the previous day’s 434,813 and surpassing the vast […]
by Kadir DEMIR IKIZCE, Turkey (AFP) — They grabbed their rakes, shovels and axes, donned high-vis helmets and went off into the mountains, helping exhausted firefighters battling Turkey’s deadly blazes pick their way through unfamiliar terrain. Residents of the rolling hills and pine forests hugging the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts have turned into the unsung heroes of Turkey’s battle against its deadliest and most destructive wildfires in generations. “You see that little fire over there? […]
by AFP bureaus ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Hundreds of firefighters battled a blaze on the outskirts of Athens on Friday as dozens of fires raged in Greece in what the prime minister dubbed a “critical situation,” while neighboring Turkey came under increasing pressure over its handling of wildfires. Greece and Turkey have been fighting blaze upon blaze over the past week, hit by the worst heatwave in decades, a disaster that officials and experts have […]
by Josh EDELSON WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The largest wildfire in California has razed a small town, warping street lights and destroying historic buildings hours after residents were ordered to flee. Greenville, an Indian Valley settlement of a few hundred people dating back to the mid-1800s Gold Rush, was engulfed by flames as winds whipped the inferno towards the community, turning the sky orange. “I’d say the majority of downtown Greenville is completely destroyed,” […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — More than 70 percent of fires that have swept Italy this summer are caused by human action, aided by climate change, a government minister said Thursday. Firefighting planes were deployed again overnight to tackle forest fires in the southern region of Calabria and on the island of Sicily, where flames threatened a nature reserve in the north. They are the latest in hundreds of blazes that have broken out across the […]
by Marina RAFENBERG ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — At least 150 houses were destroyed by a raging fire that surrounded a monastery and a dozen villages on the Greek island of Evia Wednesday, one of over 100 blazes burning in the country. Firefighters were also battling a blaze near Athens, while the mayor of Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, pleaded for help as flames threatened the site. The blazes erupted as Greece is in […]
by Kadir DEMIR and Fulya OZERKAN in Istanbul MILAS, Turkey (AFP) — Turkish rescuers on Thursday began evacuating hundreds of villagers by sea after a deadly wildfire engulfed the outer edges of a thermal power plant storing thousands of tonnes of coal. An AFP team saw firefighters and police fleeing the 35-year-old Kemerkoy plant in the Aegean province of Mugla as bright balls of orange flame tore through the surrounding hills. Hundreds of local villages […]
VARYMPOMPI, Greece (AFP) — Greek firefighters said Wednesday that they hope to bring a forest fire blazing near Athens under control “in the coming hours”. “The situation has improved and we hope to bring the fire under control in the coming hours,” the fire service said in a statement. More than 500 firefighters, a dozen water-bombing planes and five helicopters have been battling the blazes outside the capital since Tuesday afternoon. Around a dozen houses […]
by Kadir DEMIR MARMARIS, Turkey (AFP) — A roaring blaze raced toward a Turkish thermal power plant Tuesday and farmers herded panicked cattle toward the sea as wildfires that have killed eight people raged on for a seventh day. The nation of 84 million has been transfixed in horror as the most destructive wildfires in generations erase pristine forests and rich farmland across swaths of Turkey’s Mediterranean and Aegean coasts. Frightened tourists have been forced […]
by Kadir DEMIR MARMARIS, Turkey (AFP) — The European Union sent help to Turkey on Monday and volunteers joined firefighters in battling a week of violent blazes that have killed eight people and put pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey’s struggles against its deadliest wildfires in decades come as a blistering heatwave grips southeastern Europe creating tinderbox conditions that Greek officials blame squarely on climate change. The fires tearing through Turkey since last Wednesday […]
ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Greece is suffering its worst heatwave since 1987, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned on Monday, as forecasters said temperatures could hit 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) later. The intense heat has helped fan wildfires that have destroyed more than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of pine and olive groves in the country’s west since Saturday. © Agence France-Presse
by Raziye AKKOC with AFP bureaus ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — Dozens of villages were evacuated in tourist hotspots in southern Turkey on Sunday as wildfires that have claimed eight lives raged for a fifth day, while blazes also hit Greece, Italy and Spain. Fanned by soaring temperatures and strong winds — with experts saying that climate change increases both the frequency and intensity of such blazes — this year’s fire season has been significantly more […]
