Greece on Thursday battled to contain a spate of wildfires, including on the tourist island of Crete that forced thousands of locals and holidaymakers to evacuate, and left three firefighters dead.
The Crete fire, south of the city of Rethymno, had forced officials to evacuate some 8,000 people overnight as it threatened the village resort of Agia Galini.
Although the situation was improving Thursday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned of "difficult days" ahead.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was preparing additional support.
Hotelier Michalis Christoforakis told AFP that holidaymakers forced to leave were now returning to resorts in Agia Galini on the island's south coast.
"Some people were worried" during the evacuations, he said by telephone, "but there was no panic".
The National Observatory's weather website meteo.gr said wind shears in the Rethymno area had been recorded at up to 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour, creating a fire front of over 12 kilometres.
"We evacuated (some) 8,000 people" from the resort village of Agia Galini, Maria Lioni, deputy governor of the Rethymno area, told state TV ERT earlier.
The coast guard carried out numerous evacuations on Wednesday, according to footage released by the port police, as the fire got to within a kilometre of the village before changing direction in the evening.
The fire is believed to have burned down homes, agricultural facilities and farm animals, but the toll is unclear as it is ongoing, Lioni said.
Two firefighters were trapped on a mountain road near the village of Krya Vrysi and died as the winds kept changing direction.
"It was a dark day," Lioni said.
A third firefighter collapsed and died during efforts to put out a separate fire near Gytheio in the Peloponnese peninsula.
- 'Scared'-
Daniela Schmidt, an Austrian tourist, said she was "quite scared" as wildfires swept parts of the island.
"All evening and throughout the night, we watched the fire," she told AFP by phone.
Schmidt, who was holidaying on the picturesque island with her family, said they were unable to return to their hotel following an evacuation order.
"We called the hotel and asked them to pick us up. We were scared. We had no luggage, no documents, just our bathing suits," she said.
"We wanted to go back to get our passports and money, but there were firefighters everywhere. About one kilometre from the hotel, we had to turn around."
She said the family was able to return to the hotel the following day.
On Thursday afternoon, a second fire broke out near the village of Asomatos, about 60 kilometres from the site of the first blaze, the fire service said, prompting authorities to order precautionary evacuations.
-'Difficult days'-
The fire department dedicated a force of over 200 firefighters and 53 fire engines to the Crete blaze, but the violent wind had prevented aircraft from taking on seawater.
The prime minister paid tribute to the fallen firefighters, and warned that "difficult days" lay ahead.
"August ... is traditionally a difficult month," Mitsotakis told a cabinet meeting, urging people to take "the greatest care possible" as many fires broke out due to "gross negligence".
Greece faces destructive wildfires almost every summer as prolonged drought, high temperatures and strong winds create ideal conditions for blazes to spread rapidly.
Nearly 100 firefighters were separately tackling a fire near the village of Plomari on the island of Lesbos.
The civil protection ministry placed several areas on near-maximum fire alert for Thursday, including Crete, the greater Athens area, the eastern Peloponnese and most of the Aegean islands.
jph-fo-hel/st