While Europe is experiencing a “suffocating” heatwave with temperatures already reaching a scorching 115F and set to grow considerably higher today, wildfires are still raging across the continent.
A number of fires have broken out in Portugal, some of which have spread to the upscale community of Quinta do Lago, where homes range in price from £1 million to £9.5 million and where celebrities like Roman Abramovich, Duncan Bannatyne, John Terry, and Steven Gerrard have homes.
Images show the luxury resort being torn apart by swirling flames that are obliterating golf courses as terrified holidaymakers desperately try to evacuate in their automobiles from the approaching blaze.
In Portugal, thousands of firefighters battled fires, and one distraught peasant said the flames “looked like the devil.”
Similar fires have also started in Spain, France, Turkey, and Croatia as a result of Europe’s ongoing struggle with the furnace-like heat dome that covers the continent.
Despite one unauthorized street thermometer in Seville recording a startling 120F, Spain’s governmental meteorological office AEMET stated they expect today to be the warmest day so far of the heatwave.
According to experts, today’s official highs in the city will be 116 degrees Fahrenheit as firemen continue to battle fires that have destroyed at least 3,500 acres in Extremadura.
The majority of Spain was put on high alert on Wednesday, and according to AEMET, certain areas are “suffocating”—particularly the worst-affected Andalusia, Extremadura, and Galicia in the south, southwest, and northwest, respectively.
A series of “infernal” flames have scorched parts of Portugal over the border, eradicating homes, businesses, and golf courses.
Joo Anastácio, 63, claimed that as the fire burned outside his Ansio home, he was forced to lock himself inside with a wet towel covering his head.
It appeared to be the devil, he remarked. Around my house, everything burnt.
Following the discovery of a body in a charred area in Aveiro’s northern district, one individual perished in a forest fire.
In the central Portuguese city of Leiria, residents tried to rescue their community as fires encroached on it.
According to farmer Adelino Rodrigues, 77, “everything burnt yesterday except the houses because the people are very brave and protected them themselves.”
The firefighters showed up a lot later. He recalled, “It appeared to be the end of the world.
A fire started in the city of Faro in the touristy southern Algarve region and quickly spread to the opulent Quinta do Lago resort.
According to Duncan Bannatyne, the fire forced him and his wife to leave their Portuguese mansion.
The 73-year-old former Dragons Den celebrity now resides permanently in Vale do Lobo with his 42-year-old wife Nigora, where a fire started.
Duncan used Twitter to inform his followers that during a heatwave, his resort home caught fire, forcing him and his family to flee their residence.
Terrible day in the Algarve today, he wrote. It was a little scary, but we made it through. Yes. Although we had to abandon our homes today, fortunately not many buildings sustained damage.
The businessman also posted video of a helicopter collecting water from the ocean and said, “They are doing a terrific job.”
Additionally, he shared a video showing the fire department and emergency services approaching his house, confessing that he couldn’t return until the paths had been cleared.
We can’t get home because they are blocking the road leading to our house, he was heard saying Nigora in the video tape.
‘Perhaps the fire has rekindled. “S**t what do we do next?” Nigora can be heard saying. Nothing we do except stay here for the time being, Duncan responds.
Was a heck of a day in the Algarve today, he continued.
Videos that were published online showed blazing palm palms, portions of golf courses, and luxurious villas in close proximity to the flames.
According to the IPMA weather institute, the Santarem and Castelo Branco districts are anticipated to experience the highest temperatures on Thursday, with the remainder of drought-stricken Portugal remaining on red alert for excessive heat.
The central town of Lousa recorded Wednesday’s hottest temperature of 115 degrees Fahrenheit, one degree below the previous record set in 2003.
The wildfires were attributed to poor forest management and the heat weather by retired man Antonio Ramalheiro.
The 62-year-old stated, “When the fire comes, it is frightening.” “It is a disgrace…you lose everything if it reaches the house,” the man said.
According to the Civil Protection Authority, since wildfires broke out in Portugal last week, at least 135 individuals have sustained mostly minor injuries, and about 800 people have been forced to leave their homes.
According to prefect Buccio, more than 2,700 hectares have burned in the Gironde region of France thus far.
The largest of the two fires is located south of Bordeaux, near the village of Landiras, where 500 residents have been evacuated and the roads closed.
The other is near the famous Dune du Pilat, which is the tallest sand dune in Europe and is situated in the Arcachon Bay region of the Atlantic Coast. Over this area, dense clouds of dark smoke could be seen rising in the sky.
Six thousand people had to be evacuated from five nearby campgrounds as a result of the fire. They were brought to a nearby exhibition hall for safety.
We were awakened by other campers at 4:30 in the morning. One of the tourists who was evacuated, Christelle, told BFM TV that they had to leave right away and make hasty decisions on what to take with them.
The Gironde prefecture has outlawed all pyrotechnics in towns and villages that are adjacent to forests until Monday on the eve of Bastille Day.
Mylene Doreau, the mayor, told AFP that there were flames 30 meters up in the woods.
“We could see them approaching the village; it was frightening.”
With the help of waterbomber aircraft, 600 firefighters have been combating the fires in the area.
Some cities, notably Toulouse and Lourdes, altered their Bastille Day celebrations on Thursday to reduce the possibility of an unintentional fire. Nimes merely canceled the customary pyrotechnics entirely.
In the blazing sun on Wednesday, spectators at the yearly Tour de France, which is presently traversing the French Alps, witnessed the cyclists take on some of the race’s most challenging climbs.
They are aware of the heat. Jean Gosselin, an 18-year-old French student, sympathized, “I’m simply standing here watching.”
11 people were murdered last week in an avalanche brought on by the largest glacier in the Italian Alps collapsing as a result of exceptionally warm temperatures.
The coastguard and fire department in Greece reported on Thursday that two persons were killed when a firefighting helicopter with four crew members on board fell into the water.
The two men, who are from Romania and Moldova, were found on Wednesday night unconscious in the ocean off the coast of Samos and transferred to a local hospital.
Reanimation attempts were unsuccessful, a coastguard spokesman told AFP.
According to the emergency services, the other crew members—the Greek coworker and the Romanian pilot—had been saved.
According to state broadcaster ERT, the accident happened while the helicopter refueled with sea water to put out a fire that started on Wednesday afternoon close to the village of Paleochori, on the island’s southwest coast.
On Thursday, the fire raged on, fueled by powerful gusts.
An army of volunteers as well as some 100 firefighters and 15 trucks were on the scene to deal with it, according to the authorities.
The origin of the blaze is the subject of an investigation.
Firefighters in Turkey were battling to put out blazes that were sparked by strong winds that spread to residential areas overnight as hundreds of people were forced to evacuate due to a wildfire in the southwest Datca peninsula.
According to early investigations, the fire on Wednesday around noon started at an electrical transformer, according to the minister of forests Vahit Kirisci.
The wind effect, whose intensity and direction are unknown, “makes our job a little more harder,” he remarked early on Thursday.
According to Turkey’s Disaster Management Authority (AFAD), as fires spread to residential areas in the peninsula’s sparsely populated regions, about 450 homes and 3,530 people had to be evacuated.
Wednesday’s video showed smoke rising from the forest as aircraft dropped water on the fires as they grew. In addition, trees in the yard caught fire, and the garden of a house was shown to be covered in smoke.
According to the mayor’s office for Mugla Province, the fire damaged 17 homes and 728 hectares of land. It disclosed information demonstrating that on Thursday morning, winds in the area had greatly decreased.
Nine of the 19 people who were affected by the fire, according to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, were still receiving treatment as of Thursday morning.
Ten planes and twenty helicopters, including one that can fly at night, were reportedly used in the endeavour to put out the flames, according to the authorities.
Strong winds caused fires to spread along Croatia’s Adriatic Sea coast. The most spectacular incident was reported close to the town of Sibenik, where water-dropping planes and numerous firefighters battled to put out the flames that briefly burned some automobiles and a church tower.
Some locals were seen leaving the area in rubber boats, according to regional N1 television. Additionally, fires were reported close to the coastal town of Zadar.
Boris Dukic, a firefighter, said on state television station HRT that “it’s awful, we don’t know where to go first.”