Devastating, unprecedented wildfires in southern Europe could reignite, experts warn

Authorities in South Europe have warned that the current heatwave could reignite devastating wildfires which have ravaged parts of the region, despite firefighters managing to put blazes out in several areas, including in Spain, Greece and Italy this week.

Around 1,000 people were forced to flee their homes on the Italian island of Sardinia as fires prompted the local authorities to announce a state of emergency, calling it a “disaster without precedence”.

Regional spokesman Ignazio Artissu told CNN that the burned area’s current estimate is around 20,000 hectares, but officials are still assessing the damage.

The local government has deployed more than 7,500 personnel and 20 aircraft in an attempt to put out the fire. Countries including France and Greece have stepped up their help by sending equipment, including four planes.

In Greece, many had to flee their homes near Athens while firefighters tried to control the flames. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said firefighters had battled around 50 fires in 24 hours, and it was likely there would be more.

Meteorologists have issued further warnings of another heatwave ahead. Temperatures in Greece have reached 39 degrees Celsius, 102 degrees Fahrenheit, in recent days.

Five water-dropping planes and four helicopters were used to fight the blaze outside the Stamata area, which was 18 miles northeast of the Greek capital.

Just two months ago, earlier forest fires broke out, leaving Athens shrouded in a huge orange cloud of smoke.

Large parts of Spain have not been spared from the devastating inferno.

On Monday, Spanish firefighters said that soft rainfall is helping to extinguish a major forest fire in the northeastern Catalonia region.

The fire has destroyed over 1,600 hectares since it began burning on Saturday evening.

Ninety per cent of the fire was no longer expanding after more than 300 firefighters and members of a Spanish military emergency unit had surrounded it, he added.

The ongoing temperatures threaten several other cities in southern Europe as droughts are expected to continue, with environmental authorities warning the region is at the greatest risk from the impacts of climate change on the continent.

It is the latest cataclysmic weather event to hit Europe in the past few weeks after devastating floods rampaged through parts of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, leaving more than 180 dead,

Additional reporting by agencies