Albanian firefighters battle blazes as southern and eastern Europe feels the heat

TIRANA, Aug 5 - Albanian firefighters battled on Wednesday a wildfire in the southern region of Mallakaster which forced evacuations of about 15 families with their livestock and pets as a heatwave kept large parts of southern and eastern Europe in its grip.

Europe, the world's fastest warming continent, has been ravaged by record-breaking heat and destructive wildfires this summer, with France and Spain particularly hard hit.

The focus for the heatwave has shifted, with Italy placing most of its major cities under a red heat alert as temperatures climbed to around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas.

Hungarian companies and households have cut their power consumption this week after a government appeal to ease pressure on the grid amid a severe drought. The capital Budapest is braced for the peak of the heatwave on Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures of 40 C to 42 C  (104 F to 108 F) expected.

In Albania, ground and aerial forces have been deployed to keep the blazes away from houses near the village of Riban amid high temperatures,  emergency services told Reuters.

Firefighting efforts continued to tame another wildfire which was likely caused by lightning across rocky terrain in a mountainous area south of the Albanian city of Gjirokaster.

In neighbouring Greece, a wildfire possibly caused by vibrating electricity conductors that was fanned by gale-force summer winds, has gutted houses, forced emergency evacuations and consumed thousands of hectares of farmland near a popular holiday retreat northwest of Athens.

The blaze looked largely contained on Wednesday but hundreds of firefighters still operated in the area to avoid any flare-ups as six helicopters doused scattered smoking spots.

The hot, dry summer is taking a heavy toll on agriculture.

Britain's cereal harvest is on track to be the worst since comparable records began in 1984, according to an analysis published on Wednesday, as crops wither after one of the driest and hottest spring-summer periods on record. REUTERS