The 2009 Mediterranean wildfires were a series of wildfires that broke out across France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Turkey in July 2009. Strong winds spread the fire during a hot, dry period of weather killing at least eight people, six of whom were in Spain. Some of the wildfires were caused by lightning, along with arson and military training.
Effects
Four Spanish firefighters died in Catalonia on 21 July, and a fifth member died later from injuries on 23 July, as well as a fire engine driver in Teruel. A further two people died from bush fires in Sardinia. More than 120 people were rescued at Capo Pecora on Sardinia by helicopter and civil protection boats. The Arenas prison complex was evacuated and the inmates were temporarily transferred to the beach.
Northern and central Spain saw temperatures of around 40 °C (104 °F) on 21 July. Around 2,000 people were evacuated from hills around the town of Collado Mediano, near Madrid. Aircraft with water and firefighters controlled the fire.
Estimates suggest that 5,000 hectares of forest and bush were affected in the Sierra Cabrera mountain range between Turre and Mojácar in Spain on 14–15 July. 500 people were evacuated, as dozens of firefighters and soldiers controlled the fires, including the use of five helicopters and three aircraft. On 23 July, the fires on the Sierra Cabrera on which Mojácar sits flared again, causing damage to the village and other houses in the area and the evacuation of around 1,500 residents.
Outside the French city of Marseille, 1,300 hectares (3211 acres) were destroyed. In Corsica, wildfires led to the destruction of approximately 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of bush and forest resulting in the injuries of five firemen.
More than 320 wildfires affected patches of forest across Greece, although they did affect buildings. Most of them were located on the island of Euboea and the southern Peloponnese.
On 23 July, over 15 hectares of land were destroyed in a landfill site in Bodrum, southwestern Turkey. Over 200 volunteers and 100 firefighters tried to contain the fires across Turkey, which saw temperatures of 48 °C (118 °F) on 25–26 July.
Causes
Strong winds during a hot dry period of summer increased the chances of wildfires across the area. Temperatures peaked at 44 °C (111 °F) in Spain and reached 37 °C (99 °F) in Gran Canaria, which the authorities kept on a high alert. Lightning strikes caused some of the fires in the Aragon region of Spain, as reported by El Pais. Lightning strikes also caused wildfires in Mojácar, Spain, as suggested by the Spanish Forest Fire Organisation (INFOCA). The wildfires outside of Marseille, France were caused by military training using tracer bullets. The local government of Corsica believed the fires were caused by arson.
France :
A bush fire threatens residences in the southern French city of Marseille, July 23, 2009. More than 300 people were evacuated from their homes on the outskirts of Marseille as bush fires started by a military exercise neared the city, officials said.
A firefighter forbids access to residents of the village of Aullene in Corsica on July 25, 2009. Three fires started on July 23, 2009 in Corsica burned over 7,500 acres of forest.
