French Crews Get Upper Hand as Winds Push Fires in Greece

Europe's wildfire emergency eased across much of western Europe on Saturday, but the most dangerous front shifted to Greece, where gale-force winds drove flames through a seaside resort, forced hundreds to flee by sea, and hampered firefighting aircraft. For Greece, the danger carried grim resonance: a 2018 wildfire at the seaside community of Mati, near Athens, killed 104 people, making it Europe's deadliest wildfire this century. In southwestern France, firefighters held a vast wildfire within its perimeter, with about 198,000 people now allowed home after what may have been the country's largest peacetime evacuation. Major fires in Spain were also no longer advancing, the AP reports, and Portugal's main blaze was under control.

A second French fire stopped expanding overnight after racing across 4 square miles in six hours on Friday—"faster than a horse at full gallop," according to the prefecture. But it remained active Saturday, and 2,500 people were still unable to return home. The gains in western Europe marked a sharp turn from the height of the crisis, when fires in France and Spain alone drove a third of a million people from homes and vacation sites, emptied towns during the summer holiday season, and stretched firefighters, aircraft, and emergency services across simultaneous emergencies. Europe is Earth's fastest-warming continent, heating at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union's Copernicus climate service. Rising temperatures and prolonged drought leave vegetation drier and more combustible, allowing fires to spread faster and burn more intensely.

In Greece, nearly 500 firefighters battled Saturday to protect Porto Germeno, a popular resort on the Gulf of Corinth, as flames tore through thick pine forest and smoke blocked out the sun. The fire broke out Friday near the neighboring coastal village of Agios Vasileios. About 300 people were evacuated by sea, and authorities issued further evacuation orders Saturday. "A pristine forest, a paradise, was surrendered to the hands of the fire," said Minas Tzortzanis, a 60-year-old farmer and local resident, adding: "Destruction. Total destruction." New fires erupted elsewhere in Greece. A blaze east of Nafpaktos prompted evacuation alerts for at least four villages. "The very strong to gale-force winds continue to create exceptionally difficult conditions," an official said. Extreme turbulence was preventing some aircraft from collecting water or approaching the fires closely enough to make drops.