Death toll rises as out of control wildfires spread through southern Europe ...Middle East

Devastating wildfires continue to rage across southern Europe, with a third death reported in Spain and emergency crews battling to protect Greece’s third-largest city.

Thousands of firefighters and volunteers have been deployed to tackle a dozen out-of-control blazes that have burned more than 60,000 hectares across Spain, forcing about 9,500 residents to evacuate, local authorities said.

The death of a second volunteer and third victim overall was announced on Thursday.

“Today we mourn the death of another member of the team fighting fires in Leon,” said Nicanor Sen, the national government’s representative in Castile and Leon – Spain’s largest region.

Local media identified the victim as 37-year-old Jaime Aparicio, who suffered burns to 85 per cent of his body after being trapped while attempting to create fire breaks.

Evacuations have been ordered across several provinces in Spain, including Castile, Castile-La Mancha, Andalusia and Galicia, along with Leon.

Spain became the fifth country in a week to activate to seek EU assistance with wildfires.

The bloc is sending two water-bombing planes to support emergency services, where temperatures are expected to exceed 44°C this weekend.

In southern Greece, homes and agricultural facilities have come under threat around Patras, with flames tearing through forests on the edge of the city of 200,000 people.

The situation improved overnight, the fire service said, with the blaze contained to the eastern outskirts after a large-scale deployment.

Three people have been arrested in connection with the fire, which authorities may have been deliberately set, according to authorities.

Greek authorities ordered residents of a town of 7,000 near Patras to evacuate earlier this week, issuing similar orders to two nearby villages yesterday.

The wildfires have been burning for three consecutive days in the country.

Nearly 5,000 firefighters, assisted by 33 aircraft, were deployed to contain the flames near Patras, on the tourist islands of Chios and Zakynthos and at least three inland spots. So far, 95 people – including firefighters – have been injured.

Wildfires have affected nearly 440,000 hectares of land in the EU so far in 2025 – twice the average for the period since 2006, according to the EU Science Hub’s Joint Research Centre.

Extreme heat and strong winds have fuelled the spread, with temperatures rising above 40°C across much of the region this week.

Portugal has also suffered from wildfires, with a blaze in the Trancoso region consumed over 14,000 hectares of land.

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Both Spain and Greece have asked the EU for help by activating the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism, along with Bulgaria, Montenegro and Albania.

Wildfires have raged in Albania over the past week. An 80-year-old man died in a blaze south of the capital, Tirana, on Wednesday.

In Turkey, a forestry worker was killed on Wednesday while responding to a wildfire in a southern region.

A total of 18 people have been killed, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers, since the outbreak of severe wildfires the country in late June.

In France, which is recovering from massive recent fires in the southern regions last week, temperatures of up to 42°C were expected for the third consecutive day on Thursday.

Officials issued weather alerts giving local authorities discretion to cancel public events and cordon off areas with high fire risks.

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