A 55-year-old Greek firefighter tragically lost his life on Sunday while battling a wildfire on the outskirts of Thessaloniki, a major port city in northern Greece, the country’s Fire Brigade reported.
The fire, which did not threaten residential areas, scorched an unknown expanse of low-lying vegetation.
This marks the sixth wildfire-related fatality in Greece this year. Although the official wildfire season typically runs from May 1 to October 31, firefighters have dealt with numerous blazes into November due to unseasonably high temperatures.
Wildfires are frequent in Greece during the summer months, driven by heatwaves linked to climate change and occasional incidents of arson.
Greece faced more than 4,500 wildfires this year, marking what officials described as one of the most difficult firefighting seasons in the past 40 years. The Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection reports that over 14,300 acres of forestland have been destroyed.