Wildfire 'catastrophe' on Greek holiday island as villages are evacuated and people flee to beaches with huge blaze burning out-of-control

Wildfire evacuations are underway on the Greek Aegean island of Paros where a massive forest fire has been burning through the island overnight and into Wednesday morning.Footage shared on social media shows bright orange flames rising above the mountains as dark clouds of smoke engulf the island.Nine villages have been evacuated due to the growing inferno. Local media has reported that residents are fleeing to the beaches on the instructions of emergency services. According to Greek news outlet Proto Thema, emergency crews have been battling the blaze non-stop since Tuesday afternoon. The response team includes 66 firefighters, specialised forest firefighting units from Athens, five helicopters, and two water-bombing planes. They will soon be reinforced by 20 additional firefighters travelling from the mainland town of Rafina.Haris Giourtzidis, the deputy mayor of Paros, has said they 'don't yet have a clear picture of the extent of the damage. So far, we know that two barns have burned down.'He added that 'the wind is blowing constantly and very strongly', making the firefighters' work more difficult. Footage shared on social media shows bright orange flames rising above the mountains as dark clouds of smoke engulf the island Nine villages have been evacuated due to the growing inferno According to Greek news outlet Proto Thema, emergency crews have been battling the blaze non-stop since Tuesday afternoon Early Wednesday morning, residents in Trypiti, Glyfa, Pyrgaki, and Aspro Chorio were ordered to evacuate toward Dryos. This followed an earlier evacuation notice directing people in Ageria to flee toward Aliki beach. These urgent measures build on Tuesday afternoon's operations, which successfully cleared the areas of Agios Charalambos, Kambi, Bougados, Aneratza, and Kamari. The Deputy Mayor said there were cases where emergency services 'forcibly removed residents from their homes' after they refused to leave their animals behind.Local outlets report that the Paros wildfire has split into two advancing fronts, heading toward Faragas Beach and Tripiti. The village of Agkairia has been hit particularly hard by the flames. Conditions are expected to deteriorate on Wednesday as the island enters a category 3 high forest fire risk designation. In response, local authorities are maintaining a state of high alert until the blaze is fully contained.The Fire Department's press spokesman, Yiannis Artopoios, said the flames are slowly being subdued by the 86 firefighters tackling the blaze.'The battle continues so that the fire does not escape,' he emphasised.One person who had to evacuate to neighbouring island Antiparos told Swiss outlet Blick: 'This is turning into a real catastrophe! The fire spread further south with the wind in just three hours.'The fire on Paros comes as Europe is battling some of the worst wildfires in living memory across multiple popular holiday destinations as temperatures hit up to 47C.Around 4,000 holidaymakers were evacuated yesterday from a popular French beach resort.Officials ordered campsites, holiday villages, tourist residences and leisure parks to be cleared in the surfing hotspot of Lacanau, around 35 miles west of Bordeaux.Firefighters in France and Spain were battling to contain the blazes before the arrival of a fourth heatwave of the summer brings scorching temperatures.Flames have torn through vast swathes of forest in both countries, incinerating properties and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.In a sign of progress, Spain's interior ministry said it would end evacuation orders for 13 municipalities on Tuesday afternoon, without providing details of how many people were covered.Conditions are set to worsen as a fresh heatwave hits western Europe this week, with temperatures climbing again in France from Tuesday and Spain from Wednesday, according to meteorologists.French firefighters were 'on the offensive', commander Eric Pitault insisted, standing beside a 50-metre-wide, 25-kilometre-long firebreak cut with the help of civilian volunteers on the Cap Ferret peninsula.Over the past six days, the largest French wildfire since 1949 has raged west of Bordeaux, forcing more than 220,000 people to flee and destroying 240 homes.The prefect's office said that, while there were flare-ups overnight, these were under control and the burnt area had not increased.Outside Spain's Aldea del Fresno, on the edge of the vast fires burning west of Madrid, evacuated locals queued up in their cars in the hope of returning to properties and pets.They were among 60,000 people forced to flee by fires that have consumed 190,000 acres, an area almost the size of New York City.For now, though, the Guardia Civil gendarmerie was blocking their return, blaming the risk of smoke inhalation.Galia Borisova, a 55-year-old domestic helper, wanted to reach her animals in nearby Picadas but was having to wait.'They say there's so much smoke that you can't breathe, even with a mask. And I believe it, because you could see it from here.' Firefighters use controlled burning to halt a wildfire that continues to spread near Cebreros, Spain, on July 28, 2026 Residents smother embers with dirt to prevent reignition after a wildfire was brought under control near La Adrada, 95 kilometres west of Madrid, on July 28, 2026 Firefighters work as flames and smoke rise during a wildfire, amid drought conditions following a heatwave and water shortages across much of France Firefighters respond to a forest fire both from the air and land in the Seydikemer district of Mugla, Turkey on July 29 Firefighters respond to a forest fire in Turkey A firefighting vehicle operates as smoke rises from a fire burning inside a military base during a wildfire, amid drought conditions following a heatwave and water shortages across much of France, in Souge, Gironde, France, July 29 A firefighters crew battling a fire near Le Porge, in southwestern France, 29 July 2026Europe has been gripped by successive heatwaves and a major drought this year, which scientists have attributed to human-caused climate change.Extreme heat has parched the ground and dried out vegetation that had grown vigorously during wet and mild weather earlier in the year, creating tinderbox conditions.The leaders of both France and Spain warned of the new reality that climate change has created.Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has called the fires 'the most painful expression of a climate emergency', while French President Emmanuel Macron said: 'The coming weeks will be tough and we have to hold out.'While the focus is currently on Western Europe, the EU's crisis management chief warned that conditions elsewhere on the continent could spark new fires, stretching already strained resources.'Extreme conditions are looming for Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, in addition to France, the Iberian Peninsula... where the situation is expected to worsen, including in Portugal starting today,' commissioner Hadja Lahbib said.