Firefighting helicopters collide near Athens as Greece battles wildfires 

Two firefighting helicopters have collided west of Athens while battling wildfires that have destroyed more than a hundred homes and forced evacuations across Greece, as blazes continue to sweep across Europe following a summer of record-breaking heat.

The two Bell helicopters, leased by the fire department and carrying four crew members, collided midair on Sunday in the Psatha area while tackling a wildfire there, the fire service said.

Television footage showed one of the helicopters explode and plunge to the ground in flames after an apparent rotor collision. Search and rescue teams mobilised to locate the crews.

The helicopters had taken off from Elefsina military airport within the Athens metropolitan area.

Greek firefighters were also battling on Sunday to contain a separate blaze around Porto Germeno on the Gulf of Corinth, where flames crossed a mountain and reached a military firing range, activating unexploded ordnance.

Nearly 500 firefighters have been deployed with reinforcements also arriving from France and Romania.

Wildfires in Greece, France, Spain

Europe has been ravaged by wildfires this summer after a period of little rain – conditions scientists say have been exacerbated by climate change. Several new blazes have broken out in Greece after a period of relative calm there.

Gale-force winds that fuelled the Porto Germeno fire have subsided, but flames reached the settlement of Veniza and a major effort was under way to prevent the fire from reaching the nearby coastal town of Megara, Greek daily Protothema reported.

More than 10,000 hectares of land had likely been destroyed so far, it said.

In the village of Agios Konstantinos, residents were doing their best to halt the spread of the blaze.

“The fire has been burning since last night, it is certain that they cannot have forces everywhere.

We as residents are doing everything we can,” said Tasos Tzempelikos, 61, who, along with his son, was pouring water on the fire.

On Kefalonia, a 44-year-old man was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of deliberately starting the fire that broke out late Saturday in the Pastra area in the south of the island, Greek news agency ANA reported.

In France, wildfires in the Gironde and Var departments showed only minor flare-ups, with the southeastern Var blaze not spreading overnight.

In central Spain, fires that ripped through tens of thousands of hectares over the past week were mostly under control, though firefighters were dealing with re-ignitions in some areas.

In the western province of Caceres, around 800 evacuated residents were allowed to return on Sunday but remained confined to their homes as the fire stayed active.

Drying Danube

While fires in France and Spain showed signs of easing over the weekend, the blazes are part of a wider crisis gripping the continent, with Hungary’s sole nuclear power plant forced to shut for the first time in four decades as the Danube hit record low water levels and a fresh heatwave loomed.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Peter Magyar warned the country faced a critical five days, as the drying Danube forced the shutdown of its sole nuclear power plant and water-use restrictions were imposed on more than 100 cities and villages.

Meanwhile in Serbia, the drought that has brought the Danube to its lowest-ever level is forcing the country to greatly reduce power generation from hydroelectric plants, the country’s energy minister said Sunday.

The two biggest plants, Djerdap I and Djerdap II, have been reduced to an output just 20 and 30 percent of their respective capacities, Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic told RTS television.

The facilities provide around 18 percent of Serbia’s electricity generation. Hydroelectric power accounts for nearly a third of Serbia’s energy mix, with thermal plants making up the rest.

Danube levels in Serbia fell to their lowest since 1985. Serbian meteorologists say there has been no significant rainfall to feed the river for the past five or six weeks.