Two Greek firefighters have been killed and people rescued from the sea after rapidly spreading wildfires engulfed parts of Crete, the large Mediterranean island that forms the southernmost point of Greece. The two firefighters died after becoming trapped when flames swept through the Rethymno region in the island's west, where gale-force winds drove blazes across a front stretching up to 15 kilometres. A third Greek firefighter died separately after being found unconscious near Gytheio, a port town on the southern Peloponnese peninsula on the mainland. The Greek Coast Guard carried out dramatic sea rescues of residents and tourists cut off by the advancing flames, while several villages — including Krya Vrysi, the mountain community near where the two Crete firefighters died — were evacuated. "The wind is unbelievable — you can't stand sometimes. The flames were huge, it was really scary," resident Chrissa Gioukaki told Reuters. Fires also broke out on the Aegean islands of Paros and Lesbos, and in the mainland town of Trifylia.

The deaths in Greece are part of a broader wildfire crisis gripping southern Europe during what experts describe as the continent's most destructive fire season on record. A fourth heatwave of the summer has pushed temperatures to 38°C in Bordeaux and 37°C in Madrid, driving blazes that have forced more than 330,000 people from their homes across the region. In Spain, a fire near Burgohondo in Ávila province, roughly 150 kilometres west of Madrid, has burned more than 43,000 hectares — making it the largest recorded wildfire in Spanish history. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez described it as the first time Spain had raised a wildfire to "operational level 3", with the national government taking direct control of the response. Authorities allowed tens of thousands of residents to return home in parts of Madrid, Toledo, Ávila and Castellón, though some returned to find gutted buildings and charred belongings. One fire near Vall d'Uixó, north-west of Valencia, remained out of control. In south-west France, blazes in the Gironde region have burned 42,000 hectares and injured 126 firefighters, with officials warning of worsening conditions ahead.

The scale of the crisis has triggered a major European solidarity response. The European Commission has dispatched aircraft and personnel from Sweden, Turkey, Serbia, Greece, Italy and Portugal to assist France and Spain, while Romania and Greece extended their support missions. EU crisis management officials warned of "very difficult" weeks ahead, with further outbreaks anticipated in Italy and Greece later in the summer. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised firefighters for their "courage and commitment" and signalled that Poland would join relief efforts from Saturday.

Scientists and policymakers are united in linking the severity of this season to climate change. Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, and repeated heatwaves this year have desiccated vegetation across the continent. Rapid analyses indicate that June's heatwave would have been "virtually impossible" without human-driven climate breakdown, while current levels of soil dryness in western Europe — a key factor in fire intensity — have been made five times more likely by warming. This year's fires have claimed at least 10,000 lives across Europe and cost grain farmers an estimated €2 billion in lost crops. EU officials have warned that wildfires could still be burning as late as November, and experts are calling for a shift in emphasis from emergency response to long-term prevention, including wetland restoration, expanded grazing and greater public awareness.