ATHENS, Greece – Firefighters across Greece continue working tirelessly to contain and extinguish dozens of blazes scorching the landscape, all while temperatures soar across Europe.
According to a report from the Associated Press, firefighters are currently working to contain 82 wildfires in Greece, 62 of which ignited on Sunday.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from the island of Rhodes, where the most serious fire has been burning. The AP reported that at least 19,000 people were told to flee Rhodes – 16,000 of which were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea.
Vacation company Jet2 previously canceled all flights headed to Rhodes through July 30. However, the company said on Twitter that those flights would still go to the island without passengers, so customers can return to the United Kingdom on their scheduled flights, as well as any additional Jet2 customers wishing to leave.
TUI also canceled all flights to Rhodes through at least Friday and has also canceled vacations for customers traveling to impacted hotels through July 30. In addition, TUI said more staff had been added in Rhodes to support customers and provide assistance to those wishing to get back to the UK.
At least six people were briefly hospitalized as a result of the fires, and the AP says one person broke their leg trying to evacuate a hotel and a pregnant woman remained hospitalized.
More evacuations have also been ordered on the island of Corfu, as well as the island of Evia and a mountainous area in the southern Peloponnese region, according to the AP.
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In a news conference on Sunday, Greek officials said firefighters continue to battle the blazes on all fronts.
Officials said a major offensive on the fire burning in Rhodes was being conducted in the settlement of Asklipieio. To combat the fire, forces were using eight aircraft, two of which were from Turkey and one from Croatia, and 10 helicopters, three of which came from Egypt.
Another fire broke out on the island of Corfu on Sunday in the Lutses area, which grew extremely large and is now threatening settlements on the northeastern side of the island.
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Janez Lenarcic, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, tweeted on Sunday that more than 450 firefighters and seven airplanes from across the European Union have been operating in Greece to assist the nation in firefighting efforts.
“I called Kyriakos Mitsotakis to express our full support for Greece, which is confronted with devastating forest fires and a heavy heat wave due to climate change,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet. “Greece is handling this difficult situation with professionalism, putting emphasis on safely evacuating thousands of tourists, and can always count on European solidarity. EU firefighters are already on the ground.”
Extreme temperatures continue across Europe, prompting heat warnings and the closure of top tourist destinations, including ones in Greece which is only adding to the extreme fire conditions.
Red alert warnings, similar to Excessive Heat Warnings by the National Weather Service in the U.S., were issued in southern Italy, parts of Spain, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina last week.
The UK Met Office forecasted temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in parts of Italy and Greece.
Rome, for example, will see high temperatures around 94 degrees on Monday but will drop into the upper 80s by Thursday. Athens is expected to stay hot for the next several days, with a forecast high temperature of 102 on Monday, 107 on Wednesday and dropping into the upper 90s by Thursday.