Two dead, hundreds evacuated from fires near Athens

Two people have died and hundreds were evacuated as two fires broke out on the Greek island of Salamis near Athens, the fire department said.

A fire department spokesman told AFP that "two bodies were recovered" from the Peristeria beach area in the south of the island, as the service announced that hundreds of people had hurriedly been evacuated an hour earlier.

"There are hundreds of bathers and permanent residents, an evacuation order has been issued," the agency's deputy spokesman Yiannis Artopios told state TV ERT.

The civil protection ministry issued four evacuation orders in short succession as the fires broke out "almost simultaneously" in Peristeria and Selinia, two popular bathing areas in the island's south and east, Mr Artopios said.

"It is a difficult fire... inside an inhabited area," he said.

Some roads remained open and police forces were on hand to guide them to safety, Mr Artopios said.

Local officials were trying to keep the two fires from scaling a mountain and linking up, Salamina deputy mayor Thodoris Zannis told the station.

The fire service mobilised a large force of some 200 firefighters, nearly 50 engines, six aircraft and seven helicopters, rushing in reinforcements from the mainland, Mr Artopios said.

Greece's coastguard said it had dispatched five patrol boats to the area and several other private vessels including ferries were being made available.

The fire department also had two vessels assisting, Mr Artopios said.

After largely escaping the heatwave temperatures that blanketed much of Europe earlier this summer, Greece has been hit with several major wildfires since late July, fuelled by unusually strong winds.

Firefighters had largely contained a blaze on the Aegean island of Skyros earlier, an AFP reporter said.

Thirty-four fires have broken out over the past 24 hours around the country, according to the fire department.

Five firefighters have died so far, including a Danish pilot killed in a mid-air collision between two Bell helicopters while battling a blaze near Athens earlier this month.

Belgium's biggest wildfire heads towards Germany

Authorities in Belgium say a wildfire raging in a nature reserve in Wallonia region has more than doubled in size in 24 hours to affect some 3,000 hectares.

Local authorities said the blaze was heading towards the German border.

The blaze in the High Fens, a nature reserve in the east of the country, has been burning since Friday and firefighters from across Belgium and Germany and Luxembourg have sought to contain it, as have the army and farmers.

Responders today were focused on the front line of the fire moving towards Germany and were hopeful that cooler, more humid weather would support efforts to contain it, Stephanie Ernoux, spokesperson for the administration of the Belgian region of Wallonia, said.

The EU deployed three helicopters and two water bomber aircraft from around Europe yesterday after Belgium requested emergency reinforcements.

"No homes have been affected at this stage, although the fire remains close and smoke levels are significant," the office of the governor of Liege said in an update.

Elsewhere, Croatian police say they arrested four people suspected of starting some of the wildfires that have swept parts of the Adriatic coast in recent days.

French officials said falling temperatures had helped to deal with a fire in south-western France that had burnt some 1,700 hectares since Thursday.

The historically hot summer has contributed to the deaths of thousands of people across Europe.