Zürcher Nachrichten - Child dies in Italy as European heatwave sets records and sparks wildfires

The four-year-old Romanian boy died days after being found unconscious in the family's car in Sardinia.

The boy was airlifted to a Rome hospital but died of irreversible brain damage, the hospital told AFP on Monday.

The news came as Italy's health ministry issued a red alert warning for seven major cities, including Bologna and Florence.

Some 11 Italian cities are on red alert for Tuesday, and 16 cities on Wednesday, while around 190 firefighters and the army continue to tackle a wildfire on Mount Vesuvius that caused the closure of the national park to tourists.

- UNESCO site damaged -

Wildfires damaged a UNESCO World Heritage-listed site in northwestern Spain and forced evacuations in three Balkan countries as high temperatures fanned by strong winds left parts of Europe in flames.

Spanish firefighters struggled to contain a wildfire that damaged a Roman-era mining site in Las Medulas and prompted hundreds of residents to evacuate.

High temperatures and winds of up to 40 kilometres per hour (25 mph) created "many difficulties", said Juan Carlos Suarez-Quinones, the Castile and Leon regional environment minister.

"We will not allow people to return until safety in their communities is absolutely guaranteed," he told reporters, estimating that about 700 people had been displaced.

Four people, including two firefighters, suffered minor injuries, he added.

The blaze broke out on Sunday near Las Medulas, an area famed for its striking red landscape.

Spain has been in the grip of a heatwave for the past week, with temperatures nearing 40C in many areas and fuelling wildfires.

Castile and Leon alone has seen 13 fires in the past three days, according to Suarez-Quinones, who said that some were believed to have been deliberately started.

In neighbouring Portugal, firefighters were battling three large wildfires in the centre and north of the country.

- 20 arrested in Albania -

People were evacuated from dozens of homes in the Balkans as firefighters battled blazes in Albania, Montenegro and Croatia, where red alerts were announced.

In Albania, hundreds of firefighters and soldiers had subdued most of the nearly 40 fires that flared up in the last 24 hours, according to the defence ministry, but more than a dozen were still active.

Fires continued to burn in the southern coastal area of Finiq, around 160 kilometres south of the capital, where about 10 people were evacuated and several homes were razed on Sunday night, according to local media.

Since the start of July, nearly 34,000 hectares (84,000 acres) have been scorched nationwide, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

Police allege that many of the blazes were deliberately lit, with more than 20 people arrested in recent weeks.

Just outside the capital of neighbouring Montenegro, where temperatures soared to 40C, fire crews managed to save dozens of homes when a blaze broke out in inaccessible terrain on Monday, the commander of the Protection and Rescue Service, Nikola Bojanovic, told media.

In Croatia, around 150 firefighters also spent the night defending homes from a blaze near the port city of Split.

In the northwestern Turkish province of Canakkale, more than 2,000 people were evacuated and 77 people received hospital treatment for smoke inhalation after several fires broke out around the tourist village of Guzelyali, authorities said.

Several homes and cars caught ablaze, according to images shown on Turkish media, while more than 760 firefighters, 10 aeroplanes, nine helicopters and more than 200 vehicles were deployed to battle the flames.

Turkey had just experienced its hottest July since records began 55 years ago.

- French records -

Temperature records were broken in at least four weather stations in southern France, as the government called for vigilance.

The southwestern city of Bordeaux hit a record 41.6C while all-time records were also broken at meteorological stations in Bergerac, Cognac and Saint Girons, according to the national weather service, Meteo France.

The heatwave, the country's second this summer, began on Friday and was forecast to last possibly until August 19 or 20.

On Monday, 12 French departments were placed on red alert, the country's highest heat warning, with four more expected on Tuesday.

G.Kuhn--NZN