Italy on red alert for deadly third heat wave

• 12 cities are under red alert warnings today with five more added by Wednesday
• Red alert means that even the young, fit and healthy should stay out of the sun.
• Italy’s third heatwave in just two months as Greece and Tenerife battle wildfires

The Italian authorities have activated another red alert for 17 cities with the third heat wave in just two months that will devastate the country starting on Wednesday.

A dozen cities – Bologna, Bolzano, Brescia, Florence, Frosinone, Latina, Palermo, Perugia, Rieti, Rome, Turin and Verona – have already been slapped with a red alert starting today.

Genoa, Milan, Naples, Trieste and Venice will go red on Wednesday, meaning residents are considered to be at the highest risk from heat.

temperatures in various ItalyThe largest cities in , including Rome and Florence, are already at 38 degrees C today, with the mercury hitting 40 degrees on Thursday.

A red alert means that even the young, fit and healthy are warned to stay out of the sun between 10am and 6pm, such is the scorching heat of the summer sun.

Storm warnings are also in effect for the southern regions of Calabria, Basilicata and Sicily.

Last month, several cities were forced to deal with widespread power outages as temperatures reached a whopping 48 degrees C in southern Italy.

About half a million people were affected in and around the city of Catania, due to heat damage to underground cables.

The outages meant that between 200,000 and 300,000 people were left without only electricity, but also without running water.

Separately, the flights were grounded following a fire at the city’s main airport on July 16 that required repairs throughout the terminal.

High temperatures in Italy come as Greece and one of Spain’s Canary Islands battle wild forest fires.

Hot, dry and windy conditions are hampering the efforts of hundreds of firefighters battling the blazes, two of which have been burning for several days.

European Union officials have blamed climate change for the increased frequency and intensity of wildfires in Europe, noting that 2022 was the second worst year on record for wildfire damage after 2017.

In Greece, authorities have ordered the evacuation of two villages in the central region of Viotia, about 60 miles northwest of Athens, after a forest fire broke out Monday morning. The Coast Guard put two patrol boats and several fishing boats and private boats on alert in case an evacuation by sea was necessary.

Authorities said the body of a man was recovered from a sheep pen in the area under evacuation, and local media reported that the man apparently died of smoke inhalation while trying to save his cattle.

In the northeast of the country, near the border with Turkey, strong winds fanned flames on several fronts in a massive forest fire that burned for a third day in forests and farmland near the city of Alexandroupolis.

Several houses were destroyed over the weekend. Thirteen villages were evacuated as more than 200 firefighters, assisted by 17 water-dropping planes, volunteers and the armed forces battled the blaze, said deputy fire chief Ioannis Artopios.

Two other villages were being evacuated on the island of Evia near Athens, where 19 French firefighters also helped fight the flames, Artopios said, noting that 65 wildfires had broken out in Greece in the previous 24 hours.

Cyprus sent two firefighting aircraft to help fight the Alexandroupolis fire, including four crew and five ground support staff.

With hurricane-force winds blowing in various parts of the country, authorities have set the fire risk level in several regions, including the Greek capital, at ‘extreme’.

“This extreme situation that we are experiencing will further encourage the outbreak and spread of forest fires,” said Artopios.

Greece suffers destructive forest fires every summer, which authorities say have been exacerbated by climate change.

Greece’s deadliest wildfire killed 104 people in 2018, at a seaside resort near Athens that had failed to warn residents to evacuate. Since then, the authorities have gravitated to the side of caution, issuing swift mass evacuation orders whenever inhabited areas are under threat.

Last month, a forest fire on the resort island of Rhodes forced the evacuation of some 20,000 tourists. Days later, two air force pilots were killed when their water-spewing plane crashed while diving to tackle a fire on the island of Evia. This summer there were another three deaths related to forest fires.

In Spain’s Canary Islands, a forest fire that police say was started deliberately last Tuesday in Tenerife continued to burn out of control, though the worst appeared to be over. More than 12,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and some 13,400 hectares (33,000 acres) of pine forest and scrub have burned.

Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the area of ​​the fire would be declared a disaster zone, which would entitle the island to receive funds to help with reforestation and compensation for affected people.

Canary Islands regional president Fernando Clavijo told Spain’s Cadena SER radio that “the worst is over,” adding that the hundreds of firefighters deployed had made some progress for the second night in a row.

The fire in the northeast of the island is not close to any of the main tourist areas of the island. The fire has approached about 10 municipalities, but so far there have been no injuries or burned homes.

In Portugal and Italy, two other southern European countries often affected by forest fires in the summer months, temperatures are forecast to soar this week.