POISONOUS CLOUD
In Greece, flames set off by a forest fire tore through two factories in Thessaloniki in the north of the country, forcing authorities to evacuate the surrounding area.
Thick black smoke pouring out of a recycling plant and a neighbouring oil treatment complex spread across Greece’s second city. Authorities warned householders to keep their windows closed because of the risk of poisoning.
In Spain, a fire near the northeastern Costa Brava coast burned more than 2,200 hectares in two days, and firefighters said their efforts would be “complicated” by rising temperatures and the many “smoking hotspots” within the fire’s perimeter.
In France, more than 700 French firefighters tried to contain a wildfire that threatened Monday’s third stage of the Tour de France cycling race through the Pyrenees.
The fire has burned more than 1,500 hectares on a mountainside at Trevillach, about 70 km from where Monday’s cycle race ends.
Government prefect Pierre Regnault de la Mothe said a decision would be taken Sunday on whether the stage across the Spanish border would go ahead as planned.
HEAT ALERTS
Roads in the region have been closed, and the authorities have opened emergency shelters for people forced to flee their homes.
Another 300 French firefighters battled another fire in a mountainous district of the southeastern Drome department.
In Portugal, emergency services said they had controlled “80 per cent” of a wildfire that has devastated some 13,000 hectares of forest and scrub land in the north of the country.
Elsewhere, major fires also destroyed hundreds of hectares of forest, vineyards and scrub land on the Croatian island of Hvar and at Tale in Albania, authorities said.
Regions across Portugal, Spain and southern France have stepped up heat alerts for the coming days.
On Monday, the latest heatwave was expected to move north, with forecasters saying it could last until next weekend.
Following a two-week surge in temperatures in June, France said there had been more than 2,000 extra deaths than usual in just one week, while Spain and Belgium each reported more than 1,000.
