Greece's third consecutive heatwave has pushed temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius in many parts of the country. Authorities had to evacuate many residents and thousands of tourists on the night of July 25 from areas affected by wildfires (including the island of Rhodes) as the fires raged out of control. Many emergency flights were made to bring tourists home.

Many forest fires in Greece have gotten out of control. Photo: Reuters

Hundreds of firefighters, backed by forces from Türkiye and Slovakia, are battling wildfires that have flared up and flared up again amid high winds and soaring temperatures.

A firefighting plane crashed while trying to extinguish wildfires on the island of Evia. Footage from the scene of the fire from Greek television station ERT showed the plane dumping water on the fire before crashing into a hillside and bursting into flames. Firefighters did not provide further details. The crash occurred in the town of Karystos on the island of Evia, east of Athens.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on July 25 that the next few days would be difficult and that conditions would only improve after Thursday. “We don’t have a magic defense mechanism in place for what the entire planet is facing, especially in the Mediterranean climate change hotspot,” he said. “If we had one, we would have already implemented it.”

The crashed plane doused the fire with water before crashing into a hillside and bursting into flames. Source: EPT Television

Human-caused climate change played an “overwhelming” role in the extreme heatwave that swept across North America, Europe and China this month, according to a review by scientists published Tuesday. The report also said that about 10% of the Greek islands had burned.

HUU DUONG (according to ERT and NZ Herald)