Greek firefighters continue to battle a wildfire ravaging parts of the tourist island of Crete, although conditions have improved, authorities have said.
"The situation around Rethymno is better," a fire department spokesperson said.
However, the blaze "has not yet been contained, there are still many hotspots," he added.
Fires are also burning on the islands of Paros, Kalymnos and Andros in Aegean sea but "the situation is better", according to the fire service.
About 4,500 hectares had been scorched on Wednesday and yesterday south of the tourist town of Rethymno, according to meteo.gr, the weather service of the National Observatory of Athens, citing an analysis of satellite imagery from the European Union's Copernicus programme.
Strong, persistent winds, combined with the area's rugged terrain, continued to complicate firefighting operations, authorities said.
Across Greece, firefighters and civil protection services have been placed on general alert, fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said at a briefing yesterday.
Many parts of the country, including the Athens region, Crete, numerous Aegean islands and parts of the Peloponnese, faced a "very high" wildfire risk today, the second-highest level on Greece's five-point scale, according to Greek civil protection.
Greece's geography, made up of hundreds of islands, complicates the rapid deployment of emergency responders, Mr Vathrakogiannis said.
Additional firefighting resources have been dispatched to Crete.
"Strong winds and dense smoke are creating conditions of near-zero visibility and severe turbulence, making aerial water drops extremely difficult, if not impossible," he said, particularly in Crete.
Greek authorities on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of around 8,000 residents and tourists from the coastal resort of Agia Galini.
Most evacuees have since returned to their homes and hotels as Crete's peak tourist season continues.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned that Greece, which had largely avoided the severe heatwaves and major wildfires seen earlier this summer in countries such as France and Spain, was entering a challenging period.
"August ... is traditionally a difficult month," he said.
"Conditions are expected to worsen further in the coming days," the fire department spokesperson also warned.
Suffolk fire like 'an apocalypse film'
Fire crews, battling a large wildfire near one of Britain's biggest nuclear power station, have said the blaze has stabilised overnight but have warned that the risk of fresh outbreaks remains high.
The fire, near the Sizewell B nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast, has devastated 150 hectares of land and forced locals and holidaymakers to flee.
More than 100 firefighters and a helicopter have been tackling the blaze since Wednesday.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer for Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service Henry Griffin has said, an investigation has been launched into how the fire started.
Mr Griffin said, "we have a couple of fire fronts we are actively monitoring, checking on their wind speed, checking on that wind direction, to make sure any reignition is controlled and monitored throughout the coming hours.
"Due to the scale and unpredictable nature of the wind direction I wouldn’t say it is under control, it’s certainly stabilised and we have plans in place to mitigate," he added.
Around 50 people have been evacuated from their homes and a local holiday park. The Cliff House Holiday Park, containing some 200 caravans, had also been completely evacuated as a precaution.
Connor Dowsett, a holidaymaker who was evacuated from his grandparents' lodge, said the wildfire in Suffolk was like something "out of an apocalypse film".
Mr Dowsett said, "we noticed the moon … it was very orange. As we were getting closer, we could see the glow of the fire.
"We could see the brown smoke filling the air. The smell was powerful.
"It was a scary, scary sight."
Martin Harris, 80, and his wife Sheila Harris, 76, who have visited a holiday park in the area for more than 40 years, said they only had time to pack their medication before leaving their static caravan.
Mrs Harris said they saw a "glow", adding, "it went from just being in the distance, and suddenly we were just covered in this black, and it was really scary so we just wanted to get out."
"Yesterday, I had a really bad moment because I suddenly thought, 'I've been on site since 1980.’
"‘If the caravan goes, then no chance of affording another one," she added.
Turkey battle 169 wildfires this week
Hundreds of firefighters battled strong winds to control a wildfire in southwestern Turkey on Thursday, as other wind-fuelled blazes along its Mediterranean coast were brought under control.
Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said firefighters had tackled 169 fires this week and that only one was still raging in the Cine area, about 100 kilometres inland from the resort city of Bodrum.
Firefighters worked through the night, evacuating animals from four areas and by morning, nine helicopters, three firefighting planes, 42 fire engines and nine water tankers were battling the blaze.
Evacuated residents said they were devastated.
"We've been reduced to ashes, nothing is left. My dog is gone, he was more precious to me than my own life," said Arzu Celep.
"Everything we owned has gone up in flames. We took our animals uphill, if we'd stayed here, we'd have gone up in flames too," said another woman called Raziye Askin.
Turkey had been largely spared form wildfires this year until now, thanks to heavy winter rains and snowfall that replenished groundwater and protected vegetation.
According to the European Forest Fire Information System, there have been 64 fires in Turkey this year, which have burned more than 22,000 hectares of land.
Millions exposed to wildfire pollution
Wildfires in France and Spain have exposed millions of people to health-damaging air pollution over the last few days, scientists have said.
Smoke from fires contains a mix of pollutants that reduce air quality even hundreds of kilometres away.
Scientists said they were particularly concerned about emissions of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, which is associated with cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer and respiratory problems.
"We know that this has a really major health effect, particularly when there's exposure over multiple days," said Theodore Keeping, a climate scientist at Imperial College London.
"We're seeing increasingly severe and frequent high-intensity fires where people are exposed to these very, very high levels of PM2.5."
In the French city of Bordeaux, levels of PM2.5 pollution soared to peaks of above 300 micrograms per cubic metre on 26 July, data from the EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service showed.
Mr Keeping said Bordeaux's PM2.5 levels had averaged 115 micrograms on 26 July, nearly five times the EU's average daily limit.
In Limoges, a city more than 200km northeast of Bordeaux, PM2.5 levels peaked at above 400 micrograms per cubic metre over the weekend.
Wildfires can make PM2.5 even more dangerous, increasing the particles' toxicity as they combine with other components in smoke.
Wildfires in Europe have emitted 18 million metric tons of CO2 this year, with France logging its highest fire CO2 emissions on record for this point in the year, data from the European Forest Fire Information System showed.
Half of the EU's fire emissions this year occurred in the last week alone.
Scientists said fire emissions this year had not reached a scale that would thwart climate targets, but that this could change, as climate change expands fire risk into northern countries with large CO2-storing forests.
"Once we start seeing fire weather conditions that cause large fires in those regions, where that's a large part of their net zero target, then that would be more of an issue," Mr Keeping said.
