Evros wildfire scorches area bigger than New York City

The Evros wildfire, now in its 11th day, has destroyed an area larger than New York City, the European Union-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service has said.

Fuelled by gale force winds and hot weather, the fire that began near the city of Alexandroupoli quickly spread across the Evros region, killing at least 20 people last week in Europe's deadliest blaze this summer. It turned swathes of lush greenery into scorched earth and destroyed homes and livelihoods.

In a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, the Copernicus Emergency Management Service said the fire had ravaged at least 808.7 square kilometres.

New York City takes up 778.2 square kilometres.

Copernicus said last week that the fire was the largest on European soil in years.

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