Wildfires fanned by extreme heat and strong winds continued to scorch southern Europe and parts of the Middle East on Thursday, overwhelming firefighting resources and forcing evacuations. In Turkey, blazes in the southern province of Mersin and other regions have killed at least 16 people and destroyed numerous homes, according to local officials, with body-camera footage showing crews working through the night to protect residential areas. Portugal remained under a nationwide state of alert as temperatures hovered near record highs. Civil-protection authorities said more than 2,700 firefighters, almost 900 vehicles and around 15 aircraft were battling 71 rural fires, with a separate tally earlier in the day citing 4,850 personnel and 33 aircraft mobilised at dawn. Flames have threatened communities in the northern districts of Trancoso and Viseu, prompting pre-emptive evacuations and road closures. Across the Adriatic, Albania’s defence ministry described a “critical week” as multiple large fires tore through farmland and forest. One farmer who saved his house told local media he had lost his entire herd of livestock. Farther east, civil-defence teams in Syria’s western Hama governorate said wildfires have consumed more than 500 hectares of woodland, while high winds hampered containment lines. The latest outbreaks add to a punishing wildfire season that has already charred roughly 440,000 hectares across the European Union this year—double the long-term average—prompting fresh calls from environmental groups for greater investment in forest management and prevention. Severe fire weather is not confined to Europe. In the United States, Arizona’s lightning-sparked Dragon Bravo Fire has expanded to 144,432 acres and is only 54 % contained, making it the seventh-largest wildfire in state history. The blaze has destroyed about 70 structures and forced the seasonal closure of the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, underscoring the global scale of this year’s wildfire threat.