[Anchor]

Wildfires that have broken out across Europe amid a sweltering heatwave are proving difficult to contain. In Greece, a wildfire suspected to be arson has spread rapidly, leading to evacuation orders, while fires continue to expand in Portugal, Spain, and France.

Reporter Yu Deok-gi has the story.

[Reporter]

The night sky over Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city, was filled with bright red flames and toxic smoke.

A fire, suspected to be arson, broke out at a recycling plant on the evening of July 4 (local time) and quickly spread to nearby factories and forests.

Evacuation orders were briefly issued for residents in the area.

[Anastasios Chortokonidis/Local Resident: There was a furniture factory behind my house, and it was completely destroyed (by the wildfire). Nothing is left.]

On the afternoon of July 5 (local time), a large wildfire also broke out in a forest west of the capital, Athens, and Greek authorities have deployed a large number of firefighting personnel to suppress it.

A wildfire has also occurred in Perpignan, a mountainous region in the Pyrenees in southeastern France.

The fire, which has already burned about 1,500 hectares of forest, is still spreading, and 15,000 residents in the area have been evacuated.

Organizers of the Tour de France, the world-renowned road cycling race currently taking place nearby, have decided to hold the stage passing near the Pyrenees without spectators.

French firefighting authorities are struggling to extinguish the flames as temperatures have soared due to an unprecedented heatwave.

Wildfires are also raging in the central region of Portugal.

So far, nine people have been injured and 13,000 hectares of forest have been burned.

The major fires have been brought under control as over 1,200 Portuguese firefighters, joined by firefighting teams from neighboring Spain and Italy, worked together to extinguish them.

In northeastern Spain, 2,200 hectares of land have burned in just two days due to wildfires.

Reported by Yu Deok-gi | Video by Lee Seung-yeol | Graphics by Bang Min-ju