Wildfires sweep Southern Europe, leaving multiple dead and forcing mass evacuations

 

Wildfires raged across southern Europe on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, intensifying after a nightlong battle to shield Greece’s third-largest city from encroaching flames. At least three more fatalities were reported in Spain, Türkiye, and Albania as extreme heat and dry conditions continued to fuel the crisis.

Near the Greek port city of Patras, firefighters fought to protect homes and agricultural sites as flames consumed vast stretches of olive groves. Water-bombing planes and helicopters circled overhead while residents joined the effort, wielding cut branches and buckets of water in a desperate bid to push back the fire.

Firefighting crews in several countries struggled with overstretched resources amid multiple simultaneous blazes triggered by weeks of heat waves and soaring temperatures across the Mediterranean. Aircraft in Greece were deployed in rotation between fires in western mainland regions, the Patras area, and the island of Zakynthos. Athens also dispatched aid to neighbouring Albania as part of a wider international response.

In Albania, an 80-year-old man died in a blaze south of Tirana, prompting the evacuation of four villages near a former army ammunition depot. In the Korca district, close to the Greek border, explosions from buried World War II-era shells were reported.

In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed condolences over the death of a firefighting volunteer in the wildfire-hit Castile and León region north of Madrid. Thousands have been forced to evacuate as the government raised its national emergency level and mobilised extra support for regional authorities dealing with mass displacements and road closures.

Türkiye also reported tragedy when a forestry worker died in an accident involving a fire truck while tackling a blaze in the south, leaving four others injured. The country has been battling severe wildfires since late June, with 18 fatalities recorded so far, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry personnel killed last month.