Vicious wildfires continue to scorch Europe.
Hundreds of firefighters are struggling to contain a large wildfire raging outside an Athens suburb for a second day, while blazes continue in France, Spain and Portugal. Here are some of the most alarming images.
The climate crisis has increased the wildfire season by roughly two weeks on average across the globe, mostly by creating tinderbox conditions through extreme heat and dry weather.
Human activities, such as forest management and deliberate or accidental ignition, also play a role.
Greece
Nearly 500 firefighters were tackling the blaze near Athens on Wednesday, whose skyline turned black on Tuesday from the smoke.
At least two people have been hospitalised with breathing problems and minor burns.
Several houses have been burned in the fire around Mount Penteli, 25km (16 miles) northeast of the Greek capital, local officials said.
Spain
Jose Luiz Gutierrez, Fire Director for the Castillo de Leon district in northwestern Spain, told Sky News’s Hannah Thomas-Peter that the fire season is absolutely getting worse because of climate change.
He described how it has been starting earlier and earlier in the year, and how this year in particular has been fuelled by a “perfect storm” of high heat, winds and drought.
He said the severity of the conditions were “completely new” for his firefighters, even those who have been doing the job for 40 years.
France
Investigators probing the suspected deliberate lighting of what has become a raging wildfire in southwest France detained a man for questioning.
One of the blazes, tearing through woodlands south of Bordeaux, is suspected to have been started deliberately. A motorist told investigators that before pulling over and trying unsuccessfully to extinguish the flames, he saw a vehicle speeding away from the spot where the fire started, the Bordeaux prosecutor’s office said.
In the Gironde region of southwest France, two massive fires feeding on tinder-dry pine forests also have forced tens of thousands of people to flee homes and summer vacation spots since they broke out on 12 July.
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