North Macedonia seeks EU help as wildfires spread across Balkans into Greece

A firefighter tries to extinguish a forest fire at Keratea area, southeast of Athens, Greece (Yorgos Karahalis/AP)

North Macedonia said it was seeking further assistance from the European Union on Tuesday to combat wildfires that continue to burn out of control in heatwave temperatures and have crossed the southern border into Greece.

“Unfortunately, new fires are constantly appearing due to the weather and strong winds that are causing us problems,” Stojanche Angelov, head of the country’s Centre for Crisis Management, said.