WRAPUP 1-Albanian firefighters battle blazes as southern and eastern Europe feels the heat

A wildfire in Albania's Mallakaster region has forced evacuations of 15 families, as a heatwave grips southern and eastern Europe, causing widespread destruction and record-breaking temperatures.

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.