Firefighters continued to battle flames in Croatia and Albania on Sunday as heatwaves and drought seize nations.
ADVERTISEMENTWildfires are scorching Albania and Croatia as blistering heat grips the continent.
Albanian firefighters battled flames in villages near the capital of Tirana on Sunday.
Authorities said the fight against new fires was continuing at eight locations around the country.
Hundreds of firefighters and military personnel were supported by a helicopter to control fires in Librazhd and Gramsh in the central-eastern region of the country, Tirana’s countryside, south and southwest in Hamara and Konispol and in northern Bulqiza.
Hundreds of hectares of forests have gone up in flames.
Police have arrested at least five people for setting fires and called on hunters to be careful as the country battles a heat wave.
High temperatures, winds and weeks of drought have accelerated the spread of wildfires in Albania and other Balkan countries – forcing local residents to evacuate.
Firefighters have been battling massive blazes in Croatia which have already consumed thousands of hectares of pine forest, maquis and vegetation.
Firefighters continue to monitor the fire sites in Tučepi near Makarska and in Vrsine near Trogir, which ignited five days ago and have so far burned a total of 1250 hectares of maquis, low vegetation, and pine forest.
According to the County Firefighting Operations Center, the amount of personnel with boots on the ground reduced as the intensity of the fires reduces.
A fire in Tučepi was caused by the negligence of a local beekeeper who did not fully extinguish the embers from a smoker, while a fire in Vrsine was caused by spontaneously combusting waste.