In the north-east of the country, there was a fire in the Dadia National Park for the fifth day in a row. There were 320 firefighters with 68 fire engines as well as six firefighting planes and two helicopters in action. The military was also on hand to provide support.
In the southern part of the island of Lesbos, the fire has also not yet been brought under control. Thousands of hectares of land are said to have already burned there, reported the daily Kathimerini. And the Peloponnese peninsula was not spared either – a large fire broke out there on Sunday in the western regional district of Ilia, which also endangered residential areas.
Forest fire on Tenerife is losing intensity
The forest fire on the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife, which is popular with holidaymakers, has decreased in intensity. The fire is losing strength and there is hope that the flames might be brought under control shortly, the Spanish newspaper “El Dia” quoted island president Pedro Martín on Monday.
According to official information on Sunday, the flames have already destroyed more than 2,150 hectares. 585 residents of La Guancha and four other communities had been brought to safety. Numerous foreign hiking tourists were warned of the flames at the nearby Teide National Park. Around 150 firefighters were deployed. Higher humidity and less wind made their work easier. The many other forest fires in Spain in recent weeks have now been extinguished or largely brought under control.
Severe forest fires in Greece
Heavy forest fires are still raging in Greece. A national park in the north-east of the country, the island of Lesbos and now also the region around ancient Olympia in southern Greece are particularly affected.
Partial all-clear in France
There was also a partial all-clear for the fires on France’s Atlantic coast. The situation has calmed down south of Bordeaux. The forest fire near Landiras is completely under control, said the responsible prefecture for the Gironde on Monday morning. However, not all fires have been extinguished. The emergency services also got the second major forest fire in the area near La Teste-de-Buch under control.
While the situation is calming down in parts of southern Europe, efforts to extinguish a forest fire in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic continue. Around 30 fire brigade units with almost 50 vehicles were on the spot on Monday to fight the flames, according to a spokesman for the emergency services. In addition, a police and an army helicopter were used.
The forest fire broke out on Sunday morning in an area of around seven hectares not far from the Prebischtor, a rock formation popular with tourists. After the fire was initially brought under control, a second source of fire was later discovered.
Extremwetter
Although individual extreme events cannot be directly traced back to a specific cause, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change it is clear that extreme weather events such as floods, storms and heat are becoming more frequent and more intense as a result of the climate crisis. This means: Precipitation and storms are getting heavier, heat waves are getting hotter and droughts are getting drier.
Fires in California are spreading
Forest fires are also being fought in the USA. A forest fire that broke out on Friday near Yosemite National Park in the US state of California, which was hit by heat and drought, has spread further. More than 6,000 hectares of land are now affected and the fire is still not contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said on Sunday. The extreme heat is expected to continue in large parts of the United States in the coming days.
According to the ministry, more than 2,000 firefighters, including 17 firefighting helicopters, were deployed in California to contain the flames. The “Oak Fire” rages mainly in the Mariposa district east of San Francisco and has already destroyed ten houses and damaged five others. Thousands more might fall victim to the flames. More than 6,000 people were evacuated, according to a spokesman for the California Fire Department. California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a “state of emergency” in Mariposa County on Saturday.
Suffering from a prolonged drought, the western United States has seen wildfires of exceptional magnitude and intensity in recent years. At the same time, the fire season is becoming longer and longer. The fire brigades fear particularly severe fires this year.
Heat warning for large parts of the USA
The intense heat is currently affecting much of the United States. A heat warning was in effect over the weekend in more than a dozen states with a total population of 85 million. In regions in the middle and north-east of the country, temperatures are expected to drop slightly at the beginning of the week.
In eastern Kansas, in Oklahoma and in parts of Missouri and Arkansas, 37 degrees and more are still expected. Also affected are the typically cooler regions of the northwest Pacific coast, where temperature records might be broken in the coming days, according to the National Weather Service. Public cold rooms have been set up in several cities for the homeless and people without access to air-conditioned buildings.
Al Gore warns of ‘inaction’
Former US Vice President and climate activist Al Gore warned on Sunday of the consequences of the US Congress’ “inaction” in the face of climate change in the context of heat and drought in the United States. In an interview with ABC television, when asked whether President Joe Biden should declare a climate emergency, Gore said, “Mother Nature has already declared a global emergency.”
The situation will “quickly get much worse,” Gore told NBC in another interview. However, the recent extreme weather events might also be a wake-up call for members of the US Congress who have so far refused to take decisive action to counteract global warming. The “ever worse and more serious” weather phenomena have already “initiated a rethinking,” said Gore.