ATHENS, Greece — A record-breaking hot and dry summer tightened its grip on Europe Monday, as water-dropping planes swooped over a major wildfire in Greece, firefighters in France sought to stabilize a blaze in Provence, and much of the U.K. recorded its driest July in nearly two centuries. Strong winds eased in Greece, allowing firefighting flights to resume, a day after a midair collision between two helicopters killed two crew members.A Greek and a Danish national died and two others were hospitalized in the helicopter collision. All four were private operators chartered by the Greek firefighting service.In France, firefighters in the region around Bordeaux guarded against potential flare-ups inside a still-burning scar four times the size of Paris. A prolonged heat wave and lack of rainfall led to the driest July in England and Wales in nearly 200 years of recordkeeping, according to provisional statistics, the U.K.’s weather service said Monday.All of Wales and more than half of England are officially in drought, the Met Office said. The dry spell was accompanied by sweltering temperatures across much of the U.K., following heat waves in May and June.Wales tied its record for its warmest mean temperature for July while England and the U.K. recorded their second-warmest July.Athens area remains at high risk with hundreds evacuatedGales at the weekend in Greece hampered firefighting efforts along mountainous and coastal areas while also allowing flames to spread more rapidly, but authorities said Monday the situation was improving.Authorities warned that areas surrounding Athens remained at high risk. More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from the region, including more than 250 rescued by boats from beaches in the area. Strong winds eased Monday, allowing the deployment of 12 water-dropping planes and 11 helicopters around the fire-hit Greek seaside resort of Porto Germeno where multiple evacuations have been ordered.“To put it in a headline: conditions are better but we are pressing forward because there are still multiple points of activity,” Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios said. “This is a difficult fire that has troubled us.” The blaze was blamed on a faulty power line from a wind farm and led to the arrests of two contractors on charges of negligent arson.Despite improved detection methods and an expanded cooperation among European Union members, Greece and other countries along Europe’s Mediterranean coast suffer devastating wildfires every summer as spells of heat wave temperatures grow longer. Europe is Earth’s fastest-warming continent, heating at more than twice the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate service. Rising temperatures and prolonged drought leave vegetation drier and more combustible, allowing fires to spread faster and burn more intensely.Massive blaze in France contained as evacuees return homeIn France, thousands of evacuees were allowed to return home or to holiday accommodation Monday after a massive wildfire remained contained. More than 224,000 people had fled in what officials said was the country’s largest civilian evacuation outside wartime.The wildfire burned about 420 square kilometers, making it France’s largest wildfire on record. Monday’s return includes Cap Ferret peninsula, a tourist hot spot along the Atlantic coast, and Le Porge, the municipality hardest hit by the fire, where 183 homes were destroyed. Campsites remain closed.Gatopoulos and Corbet write for the Associated Press. Corbet reported from Paris. Elena Becatoros in Athens, Thomas Adamson in Paris and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands contributed.
