New fires in heat-hit Greece force evacuations
Thousands of people have evacuated in the region this week as fires also flared in Croatia and Italy, and flames killed 34 in Algeria in extreme heat that has left landscapes tinder dry, RFI reports.
New blazes threatened central Greece Wednesday, prompting orders for locals to leave near the industrial centre of Volos and outside Lamia.
"Today is the most difficult day of the summer," fire department spokesman Ioannis Artopios told reporters in Athens, noting that crews were battling 90 fires Wednesday -- of which 61 had broken out in the last 24 hours.
One woman was found dead in a camper van in a coastal area near Volos, the fire department told AFP.
Evacuation orders have been issued for five villages and communities near Volos, and four more in outer Lamia.
"It's hell here. There are four different fronts... stretching across a combined 10 kilometres (six miles)," Dorothea Kolindrini, a deputy governor from an area included in the orders, told state TV ERT.
