Fires in Europe and Canada: Desperate fight against the fires

The flames continue to rage in many parts of Europe and Canada: on Tenerife, around six percent of the island has burned down so far. A new fire has broken out near Athens in Greece. And in Canada, the military is now helping. The situation at a glance.

Massive fires are causing destruction and endangering residents worldwide. In Europe, Tenerife and Greece are particularly affected. In Canada, emergency services continue to fight the more than 1,000 fires. An overview of the situation.

Tenerife: Police assume arson

Five days after a forest fire broke out in Tenerife, there is first progress. “The potential of the fire is decreasing,” firefighting chief Federico Grillo was quoted as saying by the regional newspaper El Día.

The fire brigade is deployed with more than 300 people and 24 airplanes and helicopters. In the early morning she took stock of the platform X, formerly Twitter: “The night went much better than expected – and brought back a certain normality and calm.”

Thanks to the “excellent work of the fire crews and better climate conditions,” the fire on several flanks is being brought under control, said regional head of government Fernando Clavijo. The winds would become weaker, the temperatures lower and the humidity higher.

According to authorities, the fire has not destroyed a single house so far. So there were no injuries. Normality prevails in the tourist areas, it said. During the day, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wanted to fly to the island to get an idea of ​​the situation on site.

The flames have so far covered around 12,800 hectares of nature, as announced by the Canary Emergency Service. This corresponds to about six percent of the island’s surface. It is one of the worst fires in Tenerife in the past 40 years. Police now believe arson was the cause.

According to official estimates, the number of people who have had to leave their homes because of the fire in the north and north-east of the island is around 13,000. This estimate is based on the population of the eleven affected communities. At first, a spokeswoman for the authorities even spoke of around 26,000 evacuees on Saturday. This number was later revised significantly downwards.

Greece: Several places near Athens evacuated

In Greece, the fight against several large forest and bush fires continues. A new fire developed overnight in the Boeotia region west of Athens. Two towns and the seaside resort of Paralia Saranti were evacuated there in the morning. A man in his 80s died. The shepherd wanted to save his animals from the flames and passed out in the smoke and probably suffocated, the fire brigade confirmed to the state broadcaster ERT.

According to Greek civil protection, the highest level of fire danger applies to the region of Attica, in which the capital Athens is located, and the neighboring regions. Stormy winds are blowing and are expected to continue for the next few days. “The wind is our biggest enemy,” said a spokesman for the fire department.

Because it hasn’t rained in some of the affected areas for months, the vegetation has dried up. If plants and trees catch fire, the wind drives the flames forward so quickly that the fire brigade hardly has a chance.

The fires near the north-east Greek port city of Alexandroupolis have now been largely brought under control. However, they are still dangerous, the state broadcaster reported. As a precaution, twelve villages and settlements were evacuated over the weekend. However, many people could have returned by now, it said. According to Greek media reports, several houses and a church are badly damaged. According to the authorities, the flames damaged several houses in the village of Loutros and also destroyed agricultural land. In total, firefighters are fighting 53 fires in the country.

Canada: Military assists in evacuations

In Canada, the forest fires were recently fueled by strong winds. In all, there are 1,000 active fires, two-thirds of which are out of control, according to the Canada Wildfire Center.

In the particularly affected town of West Kelowna on Lake Okanagan in southern British Columbia, the situation is “finally looking better,” said local fire chief Jason Brolund at a press conference, according to CBC. According to him, no other houses were destroyed in the community within a day. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that he would send soldiers and equipment to the province. The military will help with evacuations and other logistical tasks, Trudeau wrote on Platform X, formerly Twitter.

A larger fire that threatens West Kelowna, among other places, covered an area of ​​11,000 hectares, according to authorities. About 150 kilometers further north, two fires had united according to authorities on Saturday to a fire of more than 41,000 hectares. The authorities said the region around Lake Shuswap was affected. Wildfires are common in many regions of Canada. However, it is currently experiencing the worst known season in the country’s history. Experts also see the extreme fires as a result of the climate crisis, which has led, among other things, to dry soil.