Sicily’s Palermo Airport was temporarily shut down on Tuesday due to nearby raging wildfires, making it the latest European region to face the blight of wildfires. The air traffic was momentarily suspended in the Sicilian capital while firefighters strove to combat the immense blaze looming around the airport’s border.
The Sicilian wildfires occur alongside the ongoing fire emergencies in Greece, where a wave of evacuations is happening for the eighth consecutive day. Crete, another Greek island, was issued a red alert on Tuesday as wildfires continued to blaze not only there but also on Corfu Island off the Greek west coast, and Evia Island near Athens.
In southern Rhodes, further evacuations have been demanded, leading to the rescue of 19,000 individuals, largely tourists, via buses and boats to escape the path of the fire descending from the mountains towards coastal regions. This mass evacuation represents Greece’s largest such effort in recent history.
The calamitous situation in Rhodes escalated rapidly, as British tourist Jessica Mellor reported, stating that the fires went from being 100km away from her location on Saturday to only 30km away within days, driven by strong winds. The prevailing fear amongst both tourists and locals is palpable, she added.
Support from the EU and other nations continues to flow in, with Turkey providing firefighting planes to aid efforts on Rhodes, where ten water-dropping planes and ten helicopters are attempting to quell the fires.
Simultaneously, Italy is witnessing similar evacuations as tourists grapple with the relentless fires. Sixteen cities, including Sicily’s Palermo and Catania, were placed on red alert on Tuesday due to soaring temperatures. Eastern Sicily even recorded an alarming 47.6°C. In addition to a wind-driven brush fire near Palermo, several other fires have ignited across the island, including one near the seaside resort of Cefalu.
A heatwave in Southern Europe has intensified the risks of fires and related fatalities. Italy, being one of the most impacted European countries by climate change, has also experienced deadly floods in May.
