Italy

Italian firefighters and the army addressed a forest fire on the flanks of Monte Vesubiowith all hiking routes, the volcano near Naples closed tourists.

The National Firefighters Service said it had 12 teams on the ground and six Canadair aircraft that fight against the fire, which has torn through the National Park in southern Italy since Friday. The park where a volcanic eruption The old city of Pompeii In 79 AD is an important tourist destination.

“Fire fighting continues incessantly on three fronts,” said the Campania region in a statement.

The authorities said the fires are largely on the slopes of the Mount Somma de Vesubio, which is characterized by its dense vegetation.

The army created a fire reward and reinforcement firefighters were brought from other areas of Italy, while the equipment on the site used drones to better monitor the propagation of the fire, said the region and firefighters service.

The smoke of the fire could be seen from the archaeological site of Pompeya, which was buried by Vesubio’s eruption during the Roman era. The site, however, remained open to tourists.

The head of the park, Raffee de Luca, said the affected area covered about 500 hectares, or more than 1,235 acres.

“For security reasons and to facilitate fire extinction and cleaning operations in the affected areas, all activities along the Vesuvio National Park network are suspended until new notice,” said the park in a statement on Saturday.

Almost 620,000 people visited the crater of the active volcano in 2024, according to the park.

Experts say that European countries are becoming increasingly vulnerable to forest fires due to Intensifying summer heat waves Linked to global warming. Parts of the continent had recorded his most popular June In recent history.

The abnormally hot weather exposed millions of Europeans to the high heat stress with temperatures in June more typical of July and August, said Samantha Burges of the European Center for medium -sized weather forecasts.

In Spain, more than 1,000 people were evacuated on Sunday in the northwest region of the country as forest fires extended, fed by scoring temperatures and strong winds, authorities said.

Around 400 people were displaced in the city of Carucedo, and another 700 of several cities near the Unesco World Heritage Site, a former Roman gold mining area known for its surprising red landscape, local officials said.

Last week, France fought against what the authorities called the largest forest fire in the country in decades. Some 1,400 firefighters were deployed on Saturday in the southern Aude region of France to prevent Reaveque, News reported. High temperatures are expected to complicate firefighters.

On Mount Vesuvio, “fire extinguishing efforts are particularly delicate due to climatic conditions (high temperatures and wind, and pine needles, which contribute to the propagation of the flames,” said Italo Giulivo, head of the Civil Protection Department of the region.

The largest agricultural association in Italy, Coldiretti, said the fires were “a huge disaster” for vineyards and farms in an area well known for their wine, apricot and tomatoes.

The office of local prosecutors has opened an investigation into the origin of fires.

In Greece, a person was killed after a massive forest fire that quickly extended in the south on Friday, destroying houses and forcing evacuations, BBC reported from the News themezone BBC.

• Italy