Map reveals where wildfires are spreading in Turkey and parts of Europe

More than a dozen people dead; tens of thousands of others evacuated;and thousands of hectares of land burning – this is the ‘titanic battle’ the Balkans is facing.

Wildfires are currently raging in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria amid a 44°C heatwave, ongoing droughts and strong winds.

A map from Nasa shows how flames have spread across the region in the last week despite efforts to contain them.

What has become clear is that climate change is accelerating the disaster in a region already on the brink.

Turkey

Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks are now threatening Bursa, its fourth-largest city, early on Sunday.

More than 3,500 people have been forced to flee their homes in villages to the northeast as more than 1,900 firefighters battled the flames.

The highway linking the city to the capital, Ankara, was shut as surrounding forests burned.

Four people have been killed so far. The death toll rose last night after two firefighters, who were pulled from a water tanker that rolled while heading to a forest inferno, died in hospital. Another firefighter died from a heart attack while on the line of duty.

Their deaths raised Turkey’s wildfire fatalities to 17 since June, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed on Wednesday.

Orhan Saribal, an opposition parliamentarian for Bursa, described the site as ‘an apocalypse’.

He added on X: ‘While carrying water to the forest fire between Gürsu and Kestel districts, the water tanker that rolled into a ravine claimed the lives of our three worker brothers.

‘As our lungs burned, this tragedy added a heartache to our pain. I wish mercy for our brothers and condolences to their families, loved ones, and our Bursa.’

Footage revealed an ashen landscape where farms and pine forests had earlier stood.

The rise in wildfires comes as Turkey recorded its highest ever temperature of 50.5°C in the southeastern Sirnak province on Friday.

Greece

In neighbouring Greece, 50 fires scorched the suburbs of Athens, forcing the government to evacuate residents over the weekend.

Firefighters were working on five major fronts late Sunday in the area of Peloponnese, west of the capital, as well as on the islands of Evia, Kythera and Crete.

Kythera, a tourist island with 3,600 residents, continued to face ‘worrying’ conditions.

Deputy mayor Giorgos Komninos told the state-run ERT News channel that half of Kythera had been charred.

He said: ‘Houses, beehives, olive trees have been burnt.’

ERT reported that a fire was still burning on the island late Sunday, but in smaller fronts and the situation was improving.

Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a statement released on Sunday morning: ‘The state mechanism was called to engage in a titanic battle, simultaneously responding to dozens of wildfires across the country.

‘Today, the situation appears improved, but the fight continues with all available resources.’

Bulgaria

Firefighters battled wildfires at nearly 100 locations across the country on Sunday, with emergency services describing the situation as ‘critical’.

Theodora Vasileva, mayor of one of the devastated villages, Kozarevo, in the southeastern province of Yambol, said this is the first time she had witnessed a disaster of such magnitude.

She added: ‘The rapid notification system helped us a lot – people started calling and gathered in minutes. This is the first time I am seeing this hell; the sunflower crops were all in flames.

‘The elderly, whose homes are everything for them, wept. They were so worried, but everything is under control for now, their houses are preserved.’

Emergency volunteer Zvezdelin Vlaykov stressed that in all his years of firefighting, he has never seen anything like it.

He added: ‘It’s a merciless tragedy.’

This comes as two men were charged with terrorism offences after allegedly deliberately setting fires in the cities of Veliko Turnovo and Sliven.

The Ministry of Interior confirmed that the charges have been escalated from simple arson to crimes under Chapter One of the Criminal Code.

Bulgaria is the most affected country by fires for 2024-2025 in the EU, with more that 38,000 square miles affected.

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