California wildfires

Southwest Europe baked under sweltering temperatures on July 15 for a fifth day, with the heat sparking devastating wildfires, forcing the evacuations of thousands and ruining holidays.

More than a thousand firefighters, aided by water-dropping planes and helicopters, on June 22 battled a wildfire that erupted overnight near a popular resort in southwestern Türkiye forcing dozens of home evacuations.

The cause of the fire is still unknown

A wildfire raging in Northern California exploded in size overnight, becoming the third-largest wildfire in state history amid high temperatures and strong winds. Better weather conditions were expected to aid the firefight on Friday.

With oppressively hot, dry weather looming over much of the Western U.S. and Canada on July 18, the enormous Bootleg Fire in Oregon grew again and authorities ordered new evacuations.

Bootleg, the largest of 80 major fires now active in the U.S., spread overnight from 274,000 acres to 290,000 acres -- three times the size of the metropolis of Detroit, officials said.

A new big fire broke out in California and again required evacuation. The fire is in the northwestern neighbourhoods of Los Angeles, near the popular Getty Centre in the Brentwood neighbourhood.

There have been no reports of injured or affected Bulgarian citizens in the wildfires in California, the Foreign Ministry press centre reported.

At present, the largest fires are in Riverside County in Southern California and south of the City of San Francisco in Northern California. Riverside County has issued mandatory evacuation orders for settlements near fires.

A fire that threatened homes at the coastal town of Lagonissi south of the Greek capital Athens was contained before it damaged residences, the fire brigade said.
Earlier on Friday the fire brigade ordered the evacuation of residents in the coastal suburb, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Athens.

The Greek fire service on Friday ordered the evacuation of several homes in Lagonisi, east Attica, after strong winds pushed a blaze that had started in low-lying brush on an empty plot towards the town's residential area.

Greece's fire service says it has arrested two people in southern Greece suspected of starting fires, one of them who did so three times.