Two killed as fires break out on a Greek island
In Greece, two people were killed in a wildfire Sunday on the island of Salamina, west of Athens, Greek firefighters said.
The bodies were recovered in the village of Peristeria, where strong winds fueled the rapidly spreading blaze. A second blaze was reported in the Selini area. Firefighting and coast guard vessels were evacuating beachgoers in the area.
Some 260 firefighters were responding to the blazes, including 15 ground teams, 10 aircraft and eight helicopters.
The island had been placed at high wildfire risk on Sunday, with near gale-force winds. “These conditions enabled the fire to quickly reach dangerous proportions and spread rapidly within seven minutes toward nearby residential areas,” said Fire Brig. Gen. Vasileios Vathrakogiannis.
Dry conditions fuel record-breaking Belgium wildfire
The blaze now torching Belgium has far surpassed a 2011 fire that burned nearly 5½ square miles in the same area and was previously the country’s largest wildfire on record, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System.
Nicolas Yernaux, a spokesperson for the Public Service of Wallonia, said conditions were much worse this time. “We’re dealing with something much deeper because we have very dry soil,” he said.
René Dahmen, chief engineer at the Department of Nature and Forest, said the fire was still spreading Sunday in an area that was difficult for crews to reach.
“On the eastern flank, there’s a line at least a kilometer long where the fire is slowly advancing toward a municipal forest,” Dahmen said. “That’s the first priority now.”
