Mediterranean Wildfires Kill Dozens

Facts

Deadly wildfires burning in at least nine countries across the Mediterranean have so far claimed the lives of dozens of people as thousands of firefighters continue to bring the infernos under control.¹
In Algeria, wildfires reportedly destroyed at least 15 provinces, killing at least 34 people — including ten soldiers — and displacing more than 1.5K residents.²
On Tuesday, six people were killed by extreme weather in Italy, as deadly storms battered the northern parts of the country and wildfires erupted in Sicily, and blistering heat descended on the south.³
Wildfires also caused devastation in Tunisia, where about 300 people had to be evacuated from the coastal village of Melloula.⁴
In Greece, savage forest fires forced the evacuation of 20K people from the holiday island of Rhodes. Two pilots lost their lives when their water-dropping plane crashed on the island of Evia while trying to cull the blaze.⁵
Last year, as many as 61K people died due to intense heatwaves, crop-withering droughts, and devastating wildfires during Europe’s record-breaking summer.⁶

Narrative A, as provided by Reuters. While wildfires are a regular feature of summer in Mediterranean Europe, the frequency and intensity of the blazes this year are exceptional thanks to human-induced climate change — which is making heatwaves more likely and more severe. As the earth heats up, year by year, the risk of fire will only increase. These apocalyptic scenes are just the beginning of scenes we will see throughout the region.
Narrative B, as provided by The Conversation. Such unprecedented wildfires highlight the need to rethink how landscapes can be managed to protect people and sustain ecosystems when the Mediterranean climate is rapidly changing. Rather than wasting time blaming climate change, developed nations, or policy failures, the focus must shift to better forest management and formulating customized preventative measures to shrink the wildfires' scope as much as possible.