ATHENS — Firefighters in Greece and Spain battled multiple wildfires on Wednesday as an intense heatwave pushed temperatures above 44C across the Mediterranean, forcing thousands to evacuate homes and prompting red-level weather warnings. Greek civil protection authorities said several blazes were burning near Athens and on the Peloponnese peninsula.

The fires followed weeks of extreme heat across southern Europe, which meteorologists at Greece's National Observatory linked to a persistent high-pressure system. Spain's national weather agency, AEMET, issued red alerts for several regions including Catalonia and Andalusia, where temperatures were forecast to exceed 42C.

Greek authorities deployed water-dropping aircraft and hundreds of firefighters to contain the flames, while ordering precautionary evacuations of villages and coastal settlements. In Spain, regional emergency services in Catalonia reported that firefighting crews were working to protect populated areas as flames spread through tinder-dry scrubland.

Health officials across the region urged residents to remain indoors during peak afternoon hours, warning of the risks of heatstroke and smoke inhalation. The European Union's Copernicus monitoring service reported elevated fire-danger indices across the Iberian peninsula, Greece and parts of Italy, cautioning that conditions could worsen in the coming days.

The European Commission's crisis-response centre said it stood ready to coordinate assistance through the EU civil protection mechanism if member states requested support. Scientists have linked the intensifying heatwaves to climate change, warning that such conditions are becoming more frequent and severe across the Mediterranean basin.