Khaberni - The spread of fires forced thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate their homes and places of stay in Germany, France, Croatia, and Britain, amid severe heatwaves and strong winds that stoked the flames and hampered firefighting efforts.
Germany: 1,800 Evacuated
The German authorities ordered around 1,800 people to evacuate their homes on Friday after a fire that broke out in forests in the western region spread towards a nearby village on the border with Belgium.
Municipal officials, in a statement, urged residents to immediately leave the "G" village and head to a relief center set up in an elementary school in the neighboring village of Strass.
Last Thursday, authorities announced a wide-scale emergency response following a forest fire that affected about 62 acres of adjacent forests.
The firefighters and emergency teams are striving to control the flames, while meteorological officials said a vast area of Germany is facing dry conditions and high wildfire risks.
France: 525 Evacuated
Meanwhile, French authorities evacuated 525 people from a village after a fire broke out in vast pine forests in the Lande region, southwest France.
The regional official, Guile Clabrol, said on Friday that the fire, which has consumed 1,100 hectares (2,700 acres) since it erupted on Thursday, has spread two kilometers from the center of Luglon village.
He added, "The situation is not favorable," and that 500 firefighters are working to suppress the flames, assisted by 6 planes sent to provide support.
Luglon village is about 100 kilometers southeast of the tourist area of Arcachon Bay, where two major fires destroyed more than 50,000 hectares (124,000 acres), leading to the evacuation of up to 220,000 people in late July.
The area burned since the beginning of 2026 in France has exceeded record levels registered over the past two decades, according to the European fire monitoring system, which reported about 100,000 hectares burned so far.
Croatia: Fire Injures Dozens
In Croatia, at least 40 people were injured, 10 of them seriously, due to a large forest fire that broke out on Friday night, affecting residential areas on the Croatian coast, causing severe damage and forcing more than two thousand tourists and residents to evacuate their residences, according to the authorities.
The Croatian Fire Chief, Slavko Tucaković, said it was "one of the worst fires in Croatian history," explaining that the flames "destroyed between 900 and 1,000 hectares of land."
The fire erupted in the evening at Lukva Rogoznica on the coast and was stoked by strong winds, initially consuming pine forests and vegetation before reaching homes in this tourist area and then spreading for kilometers to towns and villages towards Omiš.
Forty people were transported to the Split hospital, according to officials at the hospital, while more than two thousand were evacuated to a reception center established in a gymnasium in Omiš.
About 300 firefighters participated in extinguishing the fire overnight, but the flames were advancing faster than their efforts, according to their commander.
The Croatian Fire and Rescue Authority, in a statement, said several shelters were opened in the neighboring coastal cities of Split and Makarska.
The Croatian authorities counted about 3,900 fires since the beginning of the year, with flames consuming 10,000 hectares, which represents a 75% increase in the affected area compared to the same period in 2025.
Britain: Unprecedented Fires
In the same vein, British fire officials said on Friday that wildfires in England and Wales have reached unprecedented levels, warning that rescue teams are struggling to cope with increasing hazards, following a day where the fires spread quickly from dry fields to homes.
Britain has not yet faced the same consequences caused by heatwaves in Spain, France, and other places in Europe this year, but it is experiencing more wildfires than ever before, amid its fifth heatwave of what is expected to be the hottest summer on record.
The head of the National Fire Chiefs Council, Phil Garrigan, said that the number of forest fires has now surpassed the total of last year, which was 1,017 fires, without detailing the latest numbers for this year.
He added, "We are only in mid-August, and it currently appears that the wildfire season will extend through November. Therefore, we expect this year to not only break record numbers but to see a significant increase in the number of wildfires compared to what we have previously experienced."
Yesterday, Thursday, wildfires erupted in parts of central England, destroying homes and evacuating hundreds from the area.
Government data revealed that Britain is heading towards recording the hottest summer in its history after experiencing 5 heatwaves that have left about 45 million people living in drought-affected areas and 27 million facing water use restrictions.
Europe as a whole, which is experiencing the fastest rates of temperature rise worldwide, is facing an unusually active wildfire season, as the wetter winter led to the growth of vegetation that dried out during consecutive heatwaves.
