Athens: Greece Four major wildfires battled Sunday, forcing hundreds of people to move out, as rising temperatures there and in Spain raised fears of more blazes.
Scientists say human-induced climate change is exacerbating extreme weather – including the heat, drought and flooding seen in many parts of the planet in recent weeks – and say these events will become more frequent and more intense .
The international community agrees that climate change is a potential threat to human systems and the natural world – but there are myriad ways to take action.
Earth’s average temperature has warmed by just over 1.1 °C (34 °F) since the Industrial Age and United Nations says it is currently on track to warm about 2.7C this century.
Greece is in the grip of a severe heatwave that started on Saturday and is expected to last for 10 days. The temperature rose to 42 degree Celsius in some areas.
Fire Department spokesman Yiannis Artopios told a briefing on Sunday evening that Greece was facing “an explosive cocktail of drought, high temperatures and strong winds”.
Fires broke out in the north, east and south of the country, including the tourist island of Lesbos, where on Sunday about 200 people were ordered to leave the village of Vriesa to escape the flames.
Elderly women left the village with some items in plastic bags, as there was thick smoke in the earlier houses.
On Saturday residents and tourists were told to leave the island’s beach village of Vatera.
In the northeastern region of Avros, hundreds of firefighters battled wildfires that raged for four days in Dadia National Park, which is known for its black vulture colony.
The governor of Avros, Dimitris Petrovits, told the Athens news agency that officials were doing everything possible to protect the local people and treat the injured wildlife.
To the south, a fire in the Peloponnese led to the evacuation of three villages and a children’s summer camp, while a fire was raging inside a canyon on the island of Crete.
In Spain, a heatwave that persisted for two weeks was expected to produce a record-high temperature of 45C in the southern region of Córdoba.
This part of Andalusia had Spain’s highest temperature ever recorded – 47.7C – just last year.
The National Meteorological Office said continuous heatwaves since July 9 and the lack of rain in the Iberian Peninsula since the beginning of the year meant there was an “extreme” risk of fire.
Overall, fires in France, Spain and Portugal have burned more land this year so far than in flames in 2021. The area is approximately 517,881 hectares (1.28 million acres) – roughly the size of Trinidad and Tobago.
World Health Organization said on Friday that Europe’s heatwave had caused “more than 1,700 unnecessary deaths … in Spain and Portugal alone”.
Firefighters in Britain were battling flames in London on Sunday, days after the mercury soared to 40.3C and broke the country’s temperature record.
The London Fire Brigade said it was dealing with more incidents than usual, with 205 personnel and 28 fire tenders deployed to deal with the fire at three sites across the capital.
It urged the public to cancel barbecues and remove garbage from the meadow.
Meanwhile, the United States scorched in scorching heat to surpass already-record-setting temperatures, worsening an out-of-control wildfire in central California.
Tinderbox conditions in California caught fire near Yosemite National Park and its giant sequoia trees on Friday, two days after the president Joe Biden warned that climate change represents a “clear and present danger”.
In France, the government announced on Sunday it was bringing in rules to curb energy waste, which unnecessarily adds to greenhouse gas emissions fueling climate change.
Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Rancher told RMC radio that shops would be ordered to keep their doors closed when their air conditioning or heating is on or fines would be imposed.
Leaving the doors open when the air conditioning is on “consumes 20 percent more and … that’s absurd”, she said.
Scientists say human-induced climate change is exacerbating extreme weather – including the heat, drought and flooding seen in many parts of the planet in recent weeks – and say these events will become more frequent and more intense .
The international community agrees that climate change is a potential threat to human systems and the natural world – but there are myriad ways to take action.
Earth’s average temperature has warmed by just over 1.1 °C (34 °F) since the Industrial Age and United Nations says it is currently on track to warm about 2.7C this century.
Greece is in the grip of a severe heatwave that started on Saturday and is expected to last for 10 days. The temperature rose to 42 degree Celsius in some areas.
Fire Department spokesman Yiannis Artopios told a briefing on Sunday evening that Greece was facing “an explosive cocktail of drought, high temperatures and strong winds”.
Fires broke out in the north, east and south of the country, including the tourist island of Lesbos, where on Sunday about 200 people were ordered to leave the village of Vriesa to escape the flames.
Elderly women left the village with some items in plastic bags, as there was thick smoke in the earlier houses.
On Saturday residents and tourists were told to leave the island’s beach village of Vatera.
In the northeastern region of Avros, hundreds of firefighters battled wildfires that raged for four days in Dadia National Park, which is known for its black vulture colony.
The governor of Avros, Dimitris Petrovits, told the Athens news agency that officials were doing everything possible to protect the local people and treat the injured wildlife.
To the south, a fire in the Peloponnese led to the evacuation of three villages and a children’s summer camp, while a fire was raging inside a canyon on the island of Crete.
In Spain, a heatwave that persisted for two weeks was expected to produce a record-high temperature of 45C in the southern region of Córdoba.
This part of Andalusia had Spain’s highest temperature ever recorded – 47.7C – just last year.
The National Meteorological Office said continuous heatwaves since July 9 and the lack of rain in the Iberian Peninsula since the beginning of the year meant there was an “extreme” risk of fire.
Overall, fires in France, Spain and Portugal have burned more land this year so far than in flames in 2021. The area is approximately 517,881 hectares (1.28 million acres) – roughly the size of Trinidad and Tobago.
World Health Organization said on Friday that Europe’s heatwave had caused “more than 1,700 unnecessary deaths … in Spain and Portugal alone”.
Firefighters in Britain were battling flames in London on Sunday, days after the mercury soared to 40.3C and broke the country’s temperature record.
The London Fire Brigade said it was dealing with more incidents than usual, with 205 personnel and 28 fire tenders deployed to deal with the fire at three sites across the capital.
It urged the public to cancel barbecues and remove garbage from the meadow.
Meanwhile, the United States scorched in scorching heat to surpass already-record-setting temperatures, worsening an out-of-control wildfire in central California.
Tinderbox conditions in California caught fire near Yosemite National Park and its giant sequoia trees on Friday, two days after the president Joe Biden warned that climate change represents a “clear and present danger”.
In France, the government announced on Sunday it was bringing in rules to curb energy waste, which unnecessarily adds to greenhouse gas emissions fueling climate change.
Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Rancher told RMC radio that shops would be ordered to keep their doors closed when their air conditioning or heating is on or fines would be imposed.
Leaving the doors open when the air conditioning is on “consumes 20 percent more and … that’s absurd”, she said.