Multiple Wildfires Rage Across Southern France and Greece Amid Heatwave

Firefighters are currently battling multiple wildfires across southern France, exacerbated by strong winds and the parched conditions left in the wake of Europe's recent heatwave.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez confirmed that three separate blazes, two of which ignited on the western outskirts of the Mediterranean port city of Marseille, have collectively devastated an area spanning 1,210 hectares.

The World Meteorological Organisation had previously warned last week that the record-breaking temperatures experienced across Western Europe for over a week in late June would significantly elevate the risk of wildfires. This was attributed to the forecast for sustained high temperatures, extremely low humidity, and desiccated vegetation.

The most extensive of these fires is raging in the Aude administrative department, close to the Spanish border, where approximately 900 hectares have been consumed. Local authorities reported that powerful winds are severely impeding the efforts of the 800 firefighters deployed to tackle the inferno.

Meanwhile, crews are working to extinguish a smaller fire in Rognac, near Marseille's airport, while another blaze covering 260 hectares in Lancon-Provence has been brought under control. Officials confirmed there have been no casualties.

An acrid smell of smoke hung over the area and pilots on at least one flight landing at the city reassured passengers the smell was not coming from their aircraft, a Reuters witness said.

Further east, in Frejus, a resort town in the Var department some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Cannes, more than 2,000 people were evacuated ​from six campsites on Wednesday because of a nearby ​forest fire.

France's weather office has ⁠warned that another spell of extreme heat could hit ⁠next week. Health authorities estimate the previous heatwave may have caused around 1,000 ​excess deaths in the ​country during record-breaking temperatures.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, authorities urged residents of two villages in central Greece to evacuate as more than 135 firefighters and 25 aircraft battled a wildfire, a day after a forest fire in northern Greece killed a father and his 12-year-old son.

Firefighters identified a body found inside a home destroyed by the fire the previous day as that of the boy. His father's body was found Tuesday outside the property, which was in a woodland area northeast of the northern city of Thessaloniki. The boy's mother is being treated for burns in a hospital.

Wednesday's fire was burning through forest and agricultural land in the central Greek region of Fthiotida, the fire department said. Nineteen water-dropping planes, six helicopters and 135 firefighters backed up by volunteers and special forest fire units were tackling the blaze.

At least three other wildfires broke out in Greece on Wednesday — one in the northern region of Halkidiki, another on the island of Salamina, near the Greek capital, and a third in southern Greece. All three were quickly contained, the fire department said.

While Greece suffers frequent wildfires during its hot, dry summers, it has so far been spared the heatwaves that have scorched much of western Europe in recent weeks.

In 2018, a blaze east of Athens killed more than 100 people, while a massive fire in 2023 which tore through a remote nature reserve in northeastern Greece was the largest wildfire ever recorded in the European Union.

The country has increasingly turned to technology to combat the threat of fires, exacerbated by climate change. It is integrating a dedicated array of four satellites, launched into low orbit in May, that will monitor for wildfires.