Wildfire danger in Europe shifts to Greece as evacuation orders remain in France
For Greece, the danger carried grim resonance: a 2018 wildfire at the seaside community of Mati, near Athens, killed 104 people.
Europe's wildfire emergency eased across much of western Europe on Saturday, but its most dangerous front shifted to Greece, where gale-force winds drove flames through a seaside resort, forced hundreds to flee by sea and hampered firefighting aircraft.
In southwestern France, firefighters held a vast wildfire within its perimeter, with about 198,000 people now allowed home after what may have been the country's largest peacetime evacuation . The country's interior minister, Laurent Nunez, said the blaze in Gironde "is now under control with vigilance points in a few sectors."
In southeastern France, about 1,500 firefighters are still working to contain another wildfire in the Var region.
Major fires in Spain were also no longer advancing, and Portugal's main blaze was under control.
A second French fire stopped expanding overnight after racing across 10 square kilometers (4 square miles) in six hours Friday — "faster than a horse at full gallop," according to the prefecture. But it remained active Saturday and 2,500 people were still unable to return home.