Factbox-Europe's year of droughts, wildfires and health alerts
(Reuters) -Searing summer temperatures have fuelled wildfires and prompted health warnings across southern Europe. Heatwaves resulted in more than 61,600 heat-related deaths across 35 countries. This year, temperatures could exceed Europe's current record of 48.8 degrees Celsius, recorded in Sicily in August 2021.
Below is a list of the most recent blazes and heat-related warnings issued in Europe.
ALBANIA
Albania's army and firefighters battled a large wildfire near the western town of Lac on Aug. 22. Authorities arrested a man suspected of arson. In July, Albania identified and charged 14 people with starting wildfires.
FRANCE
Production at a nuclear power plant was scaled back on Aug. 26 as high temperatures curbed cooling water supply.
A fire broke out on Aug. 20 in the southern Hautes-Alpes region of France, burning at least 140 hectares. It was the biggest blaze the region has faced in the last 20 years, media reported.
Two thousand people were evacuated on Aug. 15 as a fire burned through 500 hectares and destroyed a campsite in the south of France, near Perpignan. The blaze was quickly brought under control.
Small-scale blazes have been recorded across the country throughout the summer.
GREECE
A blaze which started near Alexandroupolis on Aug. 19 quickly spread across the Evros region, destroying an area larger than New York City, the EU-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Aug. 29. At least 20 people were killed, making it Europe's deadliest fire this summer.
Fires have been scorching Greece since the beginning of summer. Mid-July, 20,000 people were evacuated on the island of Rhodes as an inferno reached coastal resorts on the island's southeast. A wildfire also forced evacuations from the island of Corfu during the night of July 25-26.
ITALY
Central and southern regions of Italy recorded 7% more deaths than normal in July after a baking heatwave, health ministry data showed, while firefighters on Aug. 7 battled fires on the island of Sardinia. Six hundred people were evacuated.
Rome registered a new record high temperature of 41.8 Celsius, the weather service of the local Lazio region reported.
PORTUGAL
A wildfire that started on Aug. 5 in the south of Portugal was tamed four days later, authorities said. The blaze destroyed around 8,400 hectares of forest, according to preliminary data, and forced the evacuation of around 1,400 people.
Portugal declared some 120 municipalities at maximum risk of wildfires due to the heat.
SPAIN
A blaze broke out on Aug. 15 in a mountainous national park on the island of Tenerife, burning about 15,000 hectares and forcing the evacuation of more than 12,000 people. The fire was stabilised on Aug. 25. Regional leader Fernando Clavijo said it was the "most complex fire" they had faced in the Canary Islands in the last 40 years.
In July, firefighters were battling an uncontrollable wildfire that started on July 15 on the island of La Palma which led to the evacuation of at least 4,000 people. The fire was brought under control by the end of the month.
Spain has endured a prolonged period of drought, with the first four months of 2023 being the driest on record.
(Reporting and compiling by Dina Kartit and Gaëlle Sheehan; Edited by Piotr Lipiński, Ed Osmond, Conor Humphries and Nick Macfie)
