Athens, 23 July 2022 (dpa/MIA) – Heat and fires continued to plague the people of Greece on Saturday, with crews battling to put out blazes big and small as temperatures were set to hit 40 degrees Celsius. A large fire continues to ravage the Dadia National Park, near the border with Turkey. It is one of the largest forest areas in south-eastern Europe. A second major fire raged on the southern side of the holiday island of Lesbos. The civil defence force ordered the evacuation of the village of Vatera. Fire brigade units from the mainland were on their way to Lesbos to bolster efforts. Smaller fires were burning on the Peloponnese Peninsula, Greek state radio reported. Most of Greece's 86 firefighting planes and helicopters were in action against the flames, the civil defence force said. Drought and high temperatures would hit almost all parts of Greece in the coming days, creating "the perfect backdrop" for more fires, meteorologists warned on the radio. In central Greece, temperatures were already around 38 degrees in the early hours of Saturday. In places, the thermometers should show values of more than 40 degrees in the afternoon, the meteorological office warned. It is expected to get even hotter at the beginning of next week, and the heat will last until the beginning of August, it said. Elsewhere in Europe, people were injured during storms in Austria. In Fulpmes, near Innsbruck, two people were swept away in their car by a mudslide, then rescued from the vehicle by the fire brigade and taken to a hospital, the APA news agency reported. In total, almost 200 fire brigade operations due to storms were recorded overnight, mainly in the district of Innsbruck-Land. Small bridges were swept away, and buildings were also affected. In Fulpmes, a search was conducted on Saturday for possible further buried victims because witnesses had stated that they had seen two vehicles in the area of the mudslide. In the Italian province of South Tyrol, lightning strikes during a heavy thunderstorm caused several small forest fires. In addition, the fire brigade in the northern Italian region had to be called out because of fallen trees. In Naturno, a tree fell on a campsite early on Saturday morning and hit a mobile home, according to the fire brigade. No one was injured. In Merano, a tree fell on the swimming pool of a hotel. In Vilpian, lightning struck trees, an area of forest burned, but could be extinguished again. Elsewhere, a roof truss burnt out. South Tyrol forest fires have been exacerbated this summer by little rain and hardly any snow in winter. The Autonomous Province of Bolzano, also known as Bozen, has therefore already declared a water emergency in the catchment area of the Adige River, among others. It is forbidden to water public and tourist green areas between 9 am and 8 pm. For the region around Bolzano, among others, a red heat warning was issued at the weekend with temperatures around 38 degrees.