Greece battles raging wildfires as flames appear to ease in France
French wildfires show signs of easing, with containment efforts holding in Var and Gironde after destructive blazes. Gale-force winds have fanned flames across multiple parts
French wildfires show signs of easing, with containment efforts holding in Var and Gironde after destructive blazes. Gale-force winds have fanned flames across multiple parts of Greece, intensifying a new front in Europe’s wildfire emergency, while major fires in France and Spain show signs of easing, with blazes either not advancing or under control. Hundreds of firefighters, backed by water-dropping planes and helicopters, worked with emergency workers to protect Porto Germeno, a popular resort on the Gulf of Corinth, as heavy winds drove flames through the coastal area west of Athens on Saturday. The fire broke out on Friday near the neighbouring village of Agios Vasileios. About 300 people were evacuated by sea, and authorities issued further evacuation orders for the regions, according to The Associated Press.
Greek authorities issued emergency alerts for several areas for Saturday and warned of extreme wildfire risk in the regions of Attica and Evia. A Greek newspaper, Protothema, reported the fire in Porto Germeno split into three fronts and many houses caught fire in the area, prompting authorities to issue evacuation orders for nearby towns of Agia Paraskevi, Kryo Pigadi and Agios Nektarios. Theodore Giannaros, a wildfire meteorologist at the Observatory of Athens, told The AP an estimated 15 to 19 square miles (39 – 50sq km) had been affected, although authorities had not issued an official burned-area figure. Fires ‘under control’ in France The wildfires that have ravaged France are “today under control”, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Saturday, more than a week after the largest wildfire since 1949 flared up.
“Overall, the fires are now under control in our country” and, in Gironde, in the southwest, “we have returned to a more stable situation,” he said in an interview with the La Tribune Dimanche weekly. French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said flames that left a trail of destruction across villages have eased. In a post on X, he said fires in Gironde were now under control while “significant work has been done to contain the fire’s progression by the 1,500 firefighters” in the mountainous southeastern Var department, where fire burnt through 1,500 additional hectares (3,700 acres) of land. In the Var, defensive lines around the Gros Bessillon fire held overnight, and no additional ground burned, Var Prefect Simon Babre told French media on Saturday.
The BriefWire