Wildfires sweep Europe as Greece, Spain report deaths and Belgium tackles record blaze

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Firefighters light firebreaks in a forest near a farm to prevent the spread of a wildfire in Luglon, southwestern France, on August 16, 2026. — AFP pic

PARIS, Aug 17 — Two people died when fires broke out on a Greek island and a soldier died fighting a fire in Spain as Belgium tackled a record blaze on its border with Germany yesterday. 

Europe faces wildfires spurred by high temperatures and tinder-dry conditions due to a historically hot summer that has already contributed to the deaths of thousands of people.

Here are the latest developments:

Greece deaths 

Two people died and hundreds were evacuated from popular beaches when two fires broke out on the Greek island of Salamis near Athens, the fire department said.

“Over 570 people were evacuated on coast guard patrol boats and other vessels,” a coastguard spokeswoman told AFP.

Death in Spain 

A Spanish soldier died Sunday while helping efforts to extinguish a major wildfire in Aragon, the northeastern region’s leader said, as the authorities deployed the largest firefighting arsenal in the region’s history.

French reinforcements were due to help contain the wildfire, which broke out on Monday and has threatened a 1,000-year-old monastery.

Portugal fires 

Hundreds of firefighters in Portugal were battling a series of blazes there.

At one near the border with Spain, near the village of Dine, five firefighters sustained minor injuries when their vehicle caught fire, local media reported.

Firefighters were battling several other fires near the Spanish border, including at Boticas and Chavez, said the civil protection agency ANEPC.

Belgium fire threatens German town 

Water-dropping aircraft and farmers’ tractors helped firefighters battling Belgium’s largest modern-day wildfire at an inaccessible area near Germany, where a border town ordered a partial evacuation because of the growing threat.

Military helicopters backed by tractors on the ground hauled water to help firefighters tame Belgium’s largest modern-day wildfire, burning in a hard-to-access nature reserve.

The blaze—whose origins are still unknown—has grown from 80 hectares (200 acres) burnt on Friday to nearly 3,000 hectares on Sunday.

Croatia arrests 

Croatian police said they had arrested four people suspected of starting some of the wildfires that have swept parts of the Adriatic coast in recent days.

The four are suspected of setting fires that scorched pine forests and olive groves as Croatia battles a wave of blazes fuelled by drought and heat.

France fire stabilised 

A fire that burnt 1,700 hectares in the Landes department of southwestern France has been stabilised after three days of ground and air operations.

Local official Gilles Clavreul said the situation was evolving “favourably” as temperatures had dropped -- 28C expected in the afternoon compared with 40C when the fire broke out on Thursday—and humidity had risen.

The local prefect said a first group of the 650 people who had evacuated due to the fire would be allowed to return to their homes yesterday evening. — AFP