California wildfires

A fire broke out Thursday morning in the Pastra area of southeastern Kefalonia. Strong winds are making it difficult for firefighters to control the blaze.

The fire is burning through agricultural and forested land. Efforts to contain it involve 26 firefighters, two ground teams, eight aircraft and one helicopter.

Residents have received an emergency alert to remain vigilant.

Efforts continued late Thursday to combat a large wildfire that has been raging in southern Rethymno, Crete, since Wednesday.

The fire has prompted a series of 112 emergency alerts, leading to the evacuation of at least seven settlements.

A total of 290 firefighters, supported by 20 foot patrol teams and 54 vehicles, were deployed to the scene.

A fire that broke out on Wednesday morning in the Hania area of Crete, near the Agriles settlement, is still burning.

Shortly before 7 p.m., authorities issued a third emergency alert via 112 to the residents of Maza and Papadiania, advising them to evacuate towards Temenia.

Greek authorities on Tuesday evacuated a children's hospital and a retirement home on the outskirts of the southern city of Patras after a summer wildfire flared in the area amid hot, windy weather.

Scores of firefighters and water-bombing aircraft succeeded late Wednesday in taming a large wildfire on the fringes of Athens that forced authorities to evacuate two nearby settlements.

The fire service said the blaze near Athens - one of dozens all over the country Wednesday - had been largely contained but firefighters would remain on alert all evening to stop it reviving.

A man died in a fire that broke out in a house in the mountainous region of Larisa on Thursday morning. Authorities estimate the victim was in his 60s.

The fire service was called to the village of Kallipefki where the blaze started at around 6 a.m. It was not yet known what started it.

The man's charred remains were found by firefighters who searched the house.

A pet shop in the western Athenian district of Korydallos was destroyed after a blaze broke out early Thursday morning.

Four fire engines with 12 crew members arrived at the scene and put out the flames after an hour, state-run broadcaster ERT said. Firefighters evacuated the residents of two apartments located above the store as the fire threatened to expand to the upper floors.

Authorities evacuated another five villages near Greece's northeastern border with Turkey on Sunday where a large summer wildfire that has already destroyed several homes over the weekend drew dangerously close.

Evening winds fueled a major wildfire west of Greece's capital Thursday, triggering a series of new evacuations outside Athens as authorities braced for more of the extreme weather that has brought searing heat to southern Europe.

Wildfires across Greece were largely contained on Thursday after razing swathes of forest and dozens of homes for days, though a new heatwave loomed, threatening to stoke tinderbox conditions across the country.