Southern Europe burns as 3 firefighters die and France battles blaze 4 times the size of Paris - AP News

What the report says

Associated Press reported that wildfires across southern Europe intensified Wednesday, with France, Greece and Spain all confronting dangerous fire conditions driven by heat, dry terrain and strong winds. The most severe French blaze was burning in the Gironde region west of Bordeaux and was described as covering an area four times the size of Paris. Authorities said it had not expanded overnight, but rising winds and temperatures near 40 C (104 F) threatened to worsen the situation.

In Greece, AP reported that three firefighters had died as crews battled fires, including on the southern island of Crete. The Greek fire department said two firefighters were killed in a blaze that broke out Wednesday in Crete’s Rethymno region. The deaths added to the toll of a wider emergency stretching from France’s Atlantic coast toward the eastern Mediterranean.

The fire in southwestern France continued to affect communities near Bordeaux. AP video and photo material showed firefighters working near Blagon and aircraft dropping retardant over forested areas. Bordeaux converted its exhibition center into an emergency shelter, where 661 evacuees spent the night, according to AP. The report said evacuations in France and Spain had displaced as many as a third of a million people at the peak.

Spain also remained affected, with AP images showing burned areas and hot spots near Casavieja and Piedralaves in Ávila province. The fires underscore how heat waves, drought and wind can quickly overwhelm firefighting resources in Mediterranean and southern European regions during the summer fire season.