Smoke from a wildfire in the outskirts of the Greek capital covers the sun as it sets over the Parthenon temple atop of the ancient Acropolis in Athens. Photo / AP
Smoke from a wildfire in the outskirts of the Greek capital covers the sun as it sets over the Parthenon temple atop of the ancient Acropolis in Athens. Photo / AP
Spain, Italy, southern France, Greece and the Balkans roasted in temperatures of up to 40C and in the French Alps, authorities urged climbers to delay scaling Mt Blanc, Europe’s highest peak, because high temperatures had created dangerous conditions, including a greater risk of rockfall and new crevices opening on its glaciers.
Grape-pickers in wine-producing regions of southern France were urged to start work early.
Meanwhile, the bodies of 18 suspected migrants crossing from Turkey to Greece were discovered in forests burning near the border.
Local residents try to reach their houses in Benijos village as fire advances in La Orotava in Tenerife. Photo / AP
In Italy, wildfires broke out on the holiday island of Elba, off the coast of Tuscany, forcing the evacuation of around 700 people.
In Rome, where the mercury hit 37C, tourists tried to cool themselves down in fountains, while visitors to Florence and Venice also endured sweltering temperatures.
Italian meteorologists said the heat would last for the rest of the week, with thunderstorms at the weekend expected to bring some respite.
Much of Spain was on alert for extremely high temperatures. The hottest place in the country on Tuesday was El Granado in Andalucia in the southwest of the country, where the mercury reached 45C.
Cordoba, the historic city celebrated for its Moorish, Jewish and Christian heritage, experienced a high of 44.5C.
Even the normally cool north of Spain was hit by extreme heat, with parts of the Basque region sweltering in 42C.
On the island of Tenerife in the Canaries, authorities struggled to stabilise a huge wildfire that has ravaged forests for a week.
The fire has burned through 15,000 hectares, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people.
In France, the weather service widened its red alert heat warning to include 15 more departments, up from an initial four on Monday.
The newly added departments encompassed large parts of Provence and some areas in the southwest, where temperatures were expected to reach 39C.
Soaring temperatures are affecting large parts of France and were expected to peak at 42C in the wine-growing Rhone Valley.
“The heatwave is expected to peak between Tuesday and Thursday, depending on the regions,” Meteo France said.
Local residents watch the wildfire in Avantas village, near Alexandroupolis town. Photo / AP
Jerome Volle, a wine producer in Ardeche and the vice-president of French farmers’ union FNSEA, said the grape harvest had begun in his region and one way to beat the heat was to start picking the grapes at 3.30am and to stop at 11am.
A woman who was hiking in the Gorges du Tarn, a canyon in southern France, was taken by helicopter to hospital after suffering heat stroke and dehydration.
Wildfires continued to burn across Greece and 18 charred bodies were found in a remote village in the northeast of the country.
Firefighters were investigating whether the bodies, found near a shack south of the village of Avantas, were migrants. The surrounding Evros region is a popular route for migrants from the Middle East and Asia crossing from Turkey.
“Given that there have been no reports of disappearances or missing residents from the surrounding areas, the possibility that these are people who entered the country illegally is being investigated,” the fire brigade said.
In the Greek port town of Alexandroupolis, not far from Avantas, wildfires forced the evacuation of dozens of hospital patients, including newborn babies. A ferry was turned into a makeshift hospital after 65 patients were evacuated from the University Hospital.
Elderly patients lay on mattresses strewn across the cafeteria floor, paramedics attended to others on stretchers and a woman held a man resting on a sofa, an IV drip attached to his hand.
“I’ve been working for 27 years, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said nurse Nikos Gioktsidis. “Stretchers everywhere, patients here, IV drips there ... it was like a war, like a bomb had exploded.”
The latest heatwave, which scientists link to the effects of global warming, comes after the hottest July on record.
Dimitris Vartzopoulos, the deputy health minister, said smoke and ash in the air around the hospital were the main reasons behind the decision to evacuate the facility.
Coast guard patrol boats and private vessels evacuated an additional 40 people by sea from beaches near Alexandroupolis.
With firefighting forces stretched to the limit, Greece appealed for help from the EU’s civil protection mechanism.
Five water-dropping planes from Croatia, Germany and Sweden, as well as a helicopter and a team of around 60 firefighters from the Czech Republic, flew to Greece on Tuesday.
On Monday, Romania sent more than 50 firefighters and Cyprus dispatched two aircraft.
Greece’s deadliest wildfire killed 104 people in 2018, at a seaside resort near Athens that residents had not been warned to evacuate. Authorities have since erred on the side of caution, issuing swift mass evacuation orders whenever inhabited areas are threatened.
Last month, a wildfire on the island of Rhodes forced the evacuation of around 20,000 tourists and locals.
According to the Italian Society of Environmental Geology, more than 1100 fires in Europe this summer have consumed about 2850 square kilometres, well above an average of 724 fires a year recorded from 2006-2022. The fires have destroyed forested areas capable of absorbing 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.
“When we add the fires in Canada, the United States, Africa, Asia and Australia to those in Europe, it seems that the situation is getting worse every year,” said Antonello Fiore, the society’s president.
