- Three Turkish firefighters die in a crash.
- Greece reports 44 forest fires in 24 hours.
- Albania displays 900 firefighters near tourist tourists.
Athens: Firefighters fought on Monday to remove forest fires in three separated provinces from Turkey, in Greece and near a tourist complex in Albania, fueled by strong winds after days of abrasing heat in the Mediterranean region.
The smoke accumulated over the mountainous province of the Black Sea of Karabuk, 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Ankara, as a forest fire that was triggered for a sixth day forced the evacuation of more than a dozen towns and strips burned with forests.
In the northwestern province of Bursa, three firefighters died on Sunday when their vehicle crashed, the Turkey Forest Ministry said Monday.
The teams fought two separate fires there on Monday, after the evacuation of more than 3,600 people of settlements in the provinces of southern Mersin and Antalya.
Türkiye has suffered dozens of forest fires in recent weeks as temperatures have shot, and 10 firefighters were killed last week fighting a fire in the central province of Eskisehir.
The hot and dry summers are common in the Mediterranean region, but the most intense heat waves have contributed to destructive forest fires in recent years amid accelerated temperatures worldwide.
At least 44 forest fires exploded in Greece in the last 24 hours, said the Fire Brigade on Monday afternoon.
On the Greek island of southern Kythera, strong winds revived a fire since Saturday. In Athens, firefighters quickly contained a fire that exploded at the foot of Mount Hymettus, near a university campus and densely populated suburbs.
In Albania, more than 900 firefighters assisted by the army fought to control a forest fire before reaching the coastal city of Saranda and other tourist resorts in the south of the country on the Nonic coast.
Some 13 people have been arrested for crimes related to the fire caused in the last three days, police said.
Bulgaria, assisted by several European countries, deployed fire extinguishing planes to help dominate a large forest fire near the Bulgarian-Turca border.
Until now, the flames have burned around 16,000 acres in total. According to local media, two people have been arrested by the authorities investigating the cause of fires.
During the weekend, several villages were evacuated in Greece and five people were injured in separate forest fires.
When Greece saw his third summer heat wave on Monday, the rainy climate in Serbia helped firefighters there to control more than 100 forest fires.
