Overview

• At least three people have died in the fires, including a volunteer firefighter in Spain, a Montenegrin soldier in a water-tanker accident and a civilian in Albania.
• Greece has deployed roughly 4,850 firefighters and 33 aircraft to contain over 20 blazes threatening Patras and surrounding villages.
• Spain’s Castile and León region evacuated more than 5,000 residents after a blaze killed a firefighting volunteer and prompted high-risk fire warnings against a backdrop of record temperatures.
• Firefighting forces across the Mediterranean remain stretched thin after weeks of extreme heat, leading countries to request EU Civil Protection water-bombing planes and rotating support crews.
• Spanish authorities arrested a volunteer firefighter near Ávila on suspicion of arson as investigators probe causes ranging from faulty infrastructure to negligent farming practices.