In brief
In the late afternoon of Sunday, Greece’s Salamina island was engulfed by two simultaneous wildfires that claimed two lives and forced the evacuation of 500 residents. The blazes, ignited after 2:40 pm and a second about 20 minutes later, were fueled by high winds and set in forested residential areas. A total of 200 firefighters and numerous aircraft and water‑tanker crews were deployed, while coast guard vessels monitored the area. Local authorities reported several injuries, but the fires were eventually brought under control, though the causes remain uncertain.
The Greek island of Salamina was wracked by twin wildfires on Sunday afternoon, a combination of intense winds and dense forest cover that created a rapid spread. At roughly 2:40 pm local time a blaze ignited on the island’s southern coast; a second fire sparked in the eastern town of Selinia about twenty minutes later.
Fire crews—over 200 of them, accompanied by ten aircraft, 50 fire engines and water‑tanker trucks—were hastily dispatched, with an additional patrol of coast guard vessels and a fire‑department ship poised for assistance. Those numbers transferred substantial resources to the island’s mountain ridge to prevent the two flames from merging.
Tragically, two bodies were found at the site of the first blaze, believed to be a couple according to local officials. The island’s deputy mayor, Thodoris Zannis, confirmed that evacuations were completed by late Sunday; around 500 people were ferried off the island by sea, according to Greek media reports.
Health officials reported at least ten more people with burns or smoke‑inhalation symptoms, five of whom received treatment locally. The fires were driven primarily by dry vegetation and gusty winds that swept across the island’s terrain.
The incident is part of a larger pattern of escalating wildfires that have affected much of Europe this weekend, with Belgian authorities battling similar flames in the Hautes Fagnes reserve and a Croatian coastline blaze that forced the evacuation of about 1,200 residents and tourists.
The European Union’s climate monitoring service, Copernicus, has noted that the western European region experienced its hottest June‑July period on record, a factor that may have contributed to the rapid spread of these blazes.
