ANKARA (Reuters) -Firefighters in Turkey have contained six of nine wildfires tearing across western Izmir province, officials said on Friday, after the blazes killed two people and forced thousands to evacuate their homes earlier in the week. Strong winds and faulty power lines have fuelled the flames, officials said.

According to a 2024 report by the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, Europe is the continent with the fastest-rising temperatures on Earth, having warmed twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s.

Firefighters battled blazes Thursday near Athens and on the island of Crete, where thousands were forced to flee holiday resorts, while blazes in neighboring Turkey claimed at least two lives.