As Greece battles flames, experts deem Mediterranean a ‘wildfire hotspot’

As Turkey and Greece battle raging wildfire and unprecedented heatwaves, scientists say the Mediterranean has become a wildfire hotspot

As wildfires rage across Greece and Turkey, scientists have declared the Mediterranean a “wildfire hotspot”.

Greece and Turkey have evacuated thousands of people from their homes amid concerns that the fire would reach a coal-fired power plant earlier this week.

The fires comes as an intense heatwave engulfs Southern Europe, with areas in Greece recording temperatures over 46 Celsius.

Since late July, Italy, Albania, Morocco, Greece, North Macedonia and Lebanon have all experienced wildfires.

Scientists say that climate change is making heatwaves more severe and more likely

The EU’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) says the hot and dry conditions have increased the danger of further fires.

CAMS says that the intensity of wildfires in Turkey and Southern Italy are increasing rapidly. Turkey’s fire intensity metric “fire radiative power” reached the highest daily value since the records began in 2003.

The wildfires are causing pollution over the Eastern Mediterranean

CAMS says that the plumes of smoke from fires in Turkey are visible in satellite images of the area. Experts have linked to the pollution from these fires to cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer.

“It is especially important to closely watch these high intensity fires as the smoke they emit can have impacts on air quality locally and downwind,” said Copernicus senior scientist Mark Parrington.

Fires threaten ancient Olympic site in Greece

This comes as the fires forced Greek authorities to evacuate villages yesterday. The villages are all located around the ancient site the western Peloponnese Olympic Games.

“We’re doing our best to save this sacred place,” local mayor Panagiotis Antonakopoulos, told television station Open TV. “After human lives our priority is to save our history.”