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LONDON. – Wildfires yesterday raged across Europe, where a heatwave has intensified drought conditions.
Though temperatures have cooled in France and the UK, firefighters are still tackling blazes in Greece, Spain and Italy.
The fires in France’s badly hit south-west have started to be brought under control.
And as the heatwave moves north-east, low water levels are hampering transport on rivers in Germany.
Heatwaves have become more frequent, more intense, and last longer because of human-induced climate change. The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to emissions.
More than 1 000 deaths have been linked to the extremely high temperatures in Portugal while in Spain it is at least 500.
In Greece, firefighters were tackling a blaze on Mount Penteli, to the north-east of the capital Athens.
In the nearby town of Pallini, state electricity workers were scrambling to remove burnt pylons, .
France has had some of the worst fires, particularly in the southwest region of Gironde, though conditions for tackling them have improved. Temperatures fell from 40 deg Celcius on Tuesday to the mid-20s yesterday. ‑ BBC.com
Online Reporter