ATHENS — Greek emergency services battled on Sunday to bring a massive wildfire under control northwest of Athens after the blaze destroyed more than 100 homes and forced fresh evacuations on the tourist island of Kefalonia. Europe has been hit by widespread wildfires and drought following a series of record-setting heatwaves and prolonged lack of rainfall. While blazes in parts of France and Spain showed signs of easing over the weekend, new and recurring fires across Greece have mobilized nearly 500 firefighters, supported by international assistance from France and Romania.
The conflagration around Porto Germeno on the Gulf of Corinth pushed south past mountain ridges to reach the settlement of Veniza and a nearby military firing range, where high heat detonated unexploded ordnance. Local residents in nearby villages worked alongside emergency crews, using hose lines and water buckets to protect structures. Reports indicated that more than 10,000 hectares of land have been consumed as authorities worked to prevent flames from reaching the coastal town of Megara. Overnight, municipal authorities on Kefalonia ordered preventive evacuations in the Pastra region following a fresh outbreak in the island’s southern sector.
In southwestern Europe, emergency responders in France’s Gironde and Var departments reported contained conditions with minor flare-ups, while firefighters in central Spain brought major blazes under control despite minor re-ignitions. However, severe drought conditions across Central and Eastern Europe continue to severely impact major river systems, including the Rhine and the Danube. Water levels along the Danube reached historic lows in Hungary, Serbia, and Romania, disrupting river transit, municipal water supplies, and hydroelectric power generation.
The unprecedented drop in water flow along the Danube forced the shutdown of Hungary’s sole nuclear power station for the first time in over four decades as cooling water intakes were compromised. Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar declared a critical period for the national power grid as heatwave conditions persist. In Serbia, Danube water levels dropped to their lowest point since 1985, reducing the daily output of the country’s primary hydroelectric plant to 20 per cent capacity and prompting widespread municipal water restrictions.
