Europe wildfires double average as extreme risk expected into September

Brussels, Aug 14 Europe's wildfire season has scorched 439,568 hectares so far this year, more than double the 19-year average for this point in the season, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) said.

The tally covers fires larger than 30 hectares detected by the EU's Copernicus Emergency Management Service, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Since January 1, authorities have registered 1,628 such fires, up from 1,089 in the same period last year, with associated carbon emissions estimated at 14.11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, the JRC said in its latest weekly update.

Fire weather risks remain elevated. A seven-day fire weather index outlook for August 11 to Aug. 17 points to "extreme to very extreme" conditions across much of the continent, with particularly severe risk in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, most of France, the Balkans, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Austria and Hungary.

Higher-than-normal fire danger is also expected in Sweden, parts of Norway and eastern Finland, according to the JRC.

Seasonal signals suggest a difficult tail of the season. September temperatures are forecast to run above average across Europe, with the strongest anomalies in France, northern Italy and Hungary, while rainfall is projected to be below average across much of southern and central Europe, as well as France, the Balkans, Poland, Denmark and southern Sweden.

Additionally, wildfires have also been ravaging through Greece. On Wednesday, the authorities ordered mass evacuations in Patras, the country's third-largest city, as a wildfire in the southern Peloponnese peninsula spread into residential areas.

Residents were moved to designated shelters, while a children's hospital and a nursing home were evacuated as a precaution, local media Ekathimerini reported.

Patras Mayor Konstantinos Peletidis said the fire's spread was worsened by inadequate firefighting resources. The blaze also destroyed about 550 vehicles at the Patras Customs Office, according to preliminary assessments.

Fire Brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told a briefing late Wednesday that "the situation remains difficult," according to the Greek official news agency AMNA.

He said crews were battling 109 active blazes nationwide, with 48 new forest fires reported in the past 24 hours, 38 of which were brought under control promptly. The largest fronts were in Achaia, Preveza and the island of Chios, while Zakynthos and Kefalonia each faced two fronts.

Authorities estimate that wildfires over the past two days have burned about 10,000 hectares across Greece, including 4,000 hectares on Chios, 2,000 in Achaia, 1,800 near Filippiada in Preveza, and 1,700 on Zakynthos, according to the National Observatory of Athens.

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