Two firefighters die battling blaze on Crete: official

Two firefighters died battling a forest blaze on the Greek island of Crete on Wednesday, the fire department said as several fires broke out around the country, fed by gale-force winds.

"Two firefighters fell in the line of duty," deputy fire department spokesman Yiannis Artopios told AFP.

State TV ERT said the men had been trapped by the fire in their fire engine in the foothills of a mountain near the western city of Rethymno.

The fire department in a statement said the men had died "during an operation to contain a rural forest fire in the Krya Vrysi area of Rethymno."

Local municipal official Sifis Vavourakis told ERT the fire front was over 15 kilometres (nine miles) long.

"The fire is out of control," he said.

Some 110 firefighters with 27 fire engines and four aircraft had been dispatched to deal with the fire, the fire department said earlier.

But the winds had complicated efforts to fight the fire from the air, local mayor Yiannis Tatarakis told ERT, adding that six villages had been evacuated so far.

"The wind keeps changing direction, it's very easy to get trapped," Tatarakis said.

With winds of up to 74 kilometres (46 miles) per hour, other fires were raging on the islands of Paros and Lesbos, and Messinia and Laconia in the Peloponnese peninsula.

According to local authorities, around 10 villages on Paros were evacuated as a precaution, though conditions had improved on Wednesday.

Near the Lesbos town of Plomari, 50 firefighters, 13 engines and six aircraft were fighting a blaze that broke out near a landfill, the fire department said.

Greece faces destructive wildfires almost every summer as prolonged drought, high temperatures and strong winds create ideal conditions for blazes to spread rapidly.

Dozens of other forest fires have broken out across the country in recent days, fuelled by strong winds. However, firefighters managed to bring them under control before they caused casualties or significant damage.

Until now, Greece had largely escaped the extreme heat and devastating wildfires that have affected several other European countries including Spain and France this summer.

Last week, a three-day heat wave pushed temperatures to as high as 43 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country.

According to Greece's meteorological service, it was only the third time since 2011 that temperatures have exceeded 40 degrees Celsius so late in the season, following similar events on July 20, 2015, and July 30, 2013.