Forest Fires: Mediterranean in Expectation of temperature reduction

Fires caused by extreme weather have taken lives in Algeria. The death toll from fires has increased to 34, the Interior Ministry announced on Monday evening, 24.07. Among the dead are ten soldiers. Soldiers are surrounded by flames during an evacuation operation in the town of Beni Ksila along with residents of a nearby village, the Defence Ministry said. Strong winds had swollen fires Monday evening. Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased.

Greece hosts fresh, 35-degree Thursday

Despite the massive use of fire aircraft, fire helicopters continue to be out of control. The worst fires broke out Monday near Rhodes on the island of Euboea. On Corfu Island in the northwest of the country, fire was brought under control. Greece is now looking forward to Thursday. For the first time of almost two weeks, temperatures are expected to drop from 40 to 45 degrees in normal value of about 35 degrees.

Firefighters fought flames in dozens of regions of the country on Monday. The threat of fire remained extremely high. This was true of the Athens region, the Peloponnese Peninsula, and many islands of the Aegean Sea.

Tourists Out of Danger

Tourists, however, are not at risk because they are already safe and brought to the northern part of the island on Saturday. But according to estimates, there were still about 9,500 people on Monday sheltered in halls and schools or in private homes.

The German Foreign Affairs Ministry is supporting German vacationers in Rhodes with field staff and is in contact with Greek authorities and German tour operators, a ministry spokeswoman said Monday in Berlin. On Monday afternoon, the Crisis Staff gathered at the ministry.

A spokeswoman for Germany's Interior Ministry said the Federal Police (Bundespolzie) are also helping tourists return. German firemen who had been on the scene had since returned. “We are ready for further assistance”, the spokeswoman said.

Tourist operators cancel flights to Rhodes, Korfu Hotels

Several large German tour operators, meanwhile, canceled their trips to Rhodes. Der Tourism has cancelled all travel south of Rhodes until Saturday (July 29th). The same is true of stays in hotels located on the Greek island of Corfu in the area still at risk. Tourist Operator FTI cancelled all trips to Rhodes as far as and including on Wednesday (July 26th).

Fires elsewhere in Europe

In other countries in the Mediterranean region, drought continues, and the risk of forest burning continues. In Turkey, temperatures in the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea are up to eight degrees above the common value for this period of year, according to the weather service.

The temperature is expected by 42 degrees on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a new forest fire broke out in the southern Turkish province of Mugla, shortly after emergency services had brought another fire under control.

In Spain and Portugal, the threat of forest fires is also extremely high because of the long drought in large parts of the two countries. Extreme heat also causes vegetation to wither even more, which leads to fires that sometimes spread almost explosively. There were fires in the last few days. Firefighters put out fires by Monday.

Red Cross: Danger of Ammunition storage explosion

Meanwhile, the Red Cross has warned that heat waves and forest fires in the northern hemisphere pose a threat to the outbreak of old ammunition from wartime. Eric Tollefsen, an expert on arms at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva, told the German news agency dpa, that the same applies to ammunition depots at abandoned military firing ranges and ammunition depots, which are often raised in remote areas. /dw