Pictures of the Year International

Volunteers rescue sheep from a burning farm during a wild fire in the village of Chasia, near Athens, on August 22, 2023. Greece was the epicenter of Europe’s extreme weather last summer, as climate change-driven wildfires and floods wrought havoc on the Mediterranean country. The European Union’s largest ever recorded wildfire burned in northeastern Greece for weeks in August, destroying an area bigger than New York City and resulting in the tragic deaths of 28 people and scores of animals. On the Aegean island of Rhodes in July, around 20,000 people, mostly foreign tourists, had to be evacuated as fires threatened seaside resorts. And on the outskirts of the Greek capital Athens, hundreds fled as wildfires fanned by winds and heat threatened homes. According to the European Forest Fire Information Service (EFFIS), Greece’s wildfires have resulted in a cumulative burned area since the start of the year of almost 175,000 hectares. Combined wildfire carbon emissions for July and August were the third highest on record, after 2007 and 2021.