Forest fires fueled by strong winds raged yesterday in parts of Greece and the Balkans, burning forests and houses and forcing the evacuation of resorts in Albania, local authorities announced.
Above-average temperatures and dry conditions have been recorded in the region over the past month, creating ideal conditions for wildfires, scientists say.
Flames engulfed pine trees surrounding a hotel complex in the Albanian coastal town of Shenjin, where authorities evacuated residents, Reuters reported.
In North Macedonia, five houses burned down in a fire near the Greek border and residents were evacuated, local officials announced.
In Bulgaria, firefighters had to stop fighting a fire in the crown of the Slavyanka mountain yesterday after Cold War-era landmines began exploding.
Residents told local media that electricity and telephone services had been cut. A fire farther north on Monday burned dozens more buildings and killed one man, authorities said.
“We have a lot of fires. Thousands of hectares were burned. Half the country is on fire," Goran Stojanovski, an official at the Crisis Management Center of North Macedonia, told Reuters. He added that the strong wind made it difficult for the firefighters.
In Croatia, a fire burned about 450 hectares of pine forest around the coastal town of Šibenik, a local fire official told Reuters by phone.
In Bulgaria, yesterday, firefighters had to stop fighting a fire in the crown of Mount Slavjanka near the Greek border after landmines from the Cold War era began to explode, local media Nova TV reported.
Meanwhile, more than 200 firefighters supported by helicopters and firefighting planes managed to contain the blaze on Greece's second-largest island, Evia, after authorities ordered the evacuation of two villages, the fire brigade said.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that Greece is facing a "very difficult summer" in terms of climate conditions.
"We still have a very difficult month ahead of us, August, and it is obvious that we all have to be on alert," the prime minister said at the government session.
Forest fires in Greece have become more common in recent years during increasingly hot and dry summers that scientists have linked to climate change. Last year, more than 8.000 fires broke out, according to data from the fire brigade.
Since May, hundreds of wildfires have broken out across the country, which has seen the hottest June and longest heat wave on record.
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