Three Greek firefighters have perished while battling wildfires on the island of Crete and in the Peloponnese region, proving once again that fighting fire with fire is not a literal suggestion. In Crete, gale-force winds whipped flames into a frenzy, forcing the evacuation of several villages. Two firefighters died after becoming trapped when the blaze swept through the Rethymno region in the west of the island. A third firefighter was found unconscious near the southern Peloponnese port town of Gytheio and later died.
Meanwhile, a fourth heatwave of the summer has descended upon Spain and France, because apparently three wasn't enough. Firefighters are desperately trying to prevent a flare-up from major wildfires that have only just been brought under control. Witnesses said several fires broke out on Crete and spread fast, with the worst fire front extending as far as 15km (9.3 miles). Residents and tourists have been evacuated from Krya Vrysi, the mountain village where the two firefighters died. "The wind is unbelievable - you can't stand sometimes. The flames were huge, it was really scary," resident Chrissa Gioukaki told Reuters, probably while reconsidering her life choices.
Wildfires have also broken out elsewhere in Greece, on the islands of Paros and Lesbos in the Aegean Sea, and the southern town of Trifylia on the mainland. In southern Turkey, the main highway connecting Fethiye and Antalya had to be closed and part of a hospital evacuated because of a fire in Muğla province.
In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has warned the next 12 hours will be "decisive" in putting out a wildfire near the capital Madrid. "Things are progressing favourably, with maximum caution," he told reporters, because of higher temperatures, lower humidity and the risk of gusts of wind - basically everything that makes a fire say "thanks, I'll take it from here." More than 43,000 hectares (108,000 acres) has already burned at Burgohondo in Ávila province, 150km (93 miles) west of Madrid. It is now considered the largest recorded wildfire in Spanish history. In total this year more than 207,000 hectares of land have been burned by wildfires in Spain.
One of the team directing firefighting operations, Francisco Bolaños, said that while the fire had not "moved a centimetre during the night", there were concerns it could re-ignite because of the higher temperatures, and the focus was on stabilising a perimeter of 180km (112 miles). Authorities have allowed thousands of people to return to their homes after restrictions were lifted in the areas of Toledo, Madrid, Ávila, and Castellón. In the Madrid region alone, 24,000 people have been told they can return and lockdowns on another 20,000 have been lifted. Among those returning were about 1,000 residents of the towns of Navas del Rey and Chapinería to the west of Madrid who had been staying in Leganés, a town on the south-west fringe of the capital.
The mayor of Chapinería, Lucía Moya, told Telemadrid that the consequences for the town were very severe and that "many residents have lost their homes and jobs. Getting back on track is going to be an arduous task." Many of the 2,000 people forced to flee the fires in the nearby Tiétar Valley were looked after by volunteers in the town of Talavera de la Reina, some distance south of the fire. However, some 300 of the evacuees remained on Wednesday morning and Mayor José Julián Gregorio told Europa Press that they would receive "the same level of care as on the first day." One fire remains out of control, at Vall d'Uixó north-west of Valencia.
Climate change is driving up temperatures around the world, and Europe is the fastest warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. This is causing increased summer heatwaves, greater pressure on Europe's water supply, and more intense wildfires - in case you needed a reminder that we're doing this to ourselves.
In south-west France, the largest fires in the Gironde region are described as "still stabilised" despite several flare-ups, however officials warn of dry winds and temperatures of up to 41C (106F). The mayor of Le Barp, south-west of Bordeaux, Blandine Sarrazin, warned that the situation was "getting harder", after two fires had broken out the day before, and said everyone had to be "hyper-vigilant." Flare-ups were also reported not far from Lanton on the eastern shore of the Bay of Arcachon. Gironde and the Landes are among 16 departments or districts under orange heatwave alert.
The fire service has had to deploy special measures in Gironde to protect a number of sites linked to France's defence and aerospace industries. The so-called "Seveso" sites include plants that manufacture hazardous materials for missiles and rockets - because apparently wildfires aren't enough of a threat to national security.
Although no fatalities have been reported in the fires surrounding Madrid and in Castellón on the east coast, authorities in the southern city of Seville say a woman, who was badly burned in the Los Gallardos fire in Almería earlier this month, has died of her injuries in hospital. Fourteen people died in the Almería fires, including UK and Belgian nationals as well as US, French and Spanish citizens - a tragic reminder that wildfires are an equal-opportunity destroyer.
Fires are also burning in neighbouring Portugal, in the north-eastern district of Vila Real. Civil protection officials have told public broadcaster RTP there is an active front of a kilometre and they are keeping a close watch on a local water treatment plant and a gas depot near the town of Valpaços. Because when it rains, it pours - except when it doesn't, which is kind of the problem.