Wildfires

Wildfires - Greece

Lightning sparked three wildfires in remote parts of the Halkidiki peninsula in northern Greece in the early hours of Tuesday, according to the fire service.

Ground and air crews were battling blazes in the uplands of Kavourotrypes and Vourvourou on the Sithonia leg of the peninsula on Tuesday morning, after putting out another fire in Afytos on the Cassandra leg earlier.

On Sunday, a bolt of lighting is believed to have killed a 58-year-old motorcyclist on the outskirts of Thessaloniki. The man was found dead 40 kilometers east of the northern port city with a hole in his helmet.

Wildfires - New Mexico, Colorado, USA

Sunday's rains helped subdue part of a New Mexico wildfire, allowing the 1,100 residents of Cimarron to return to their homes by midday on Monday, but a second fire in neighboring Colorado was largely uncontained, officials said.

In Colorado, some 250 miles (402.34 km) away near Durango, a blaze called the 416 Fire had raged across more than 2,255 acres (912.5 hectares) by Monday morning, and forced the evacuation of about 825 homes, said Megan Graham, spokeswoman for La Plata County where the fire is burning. The Colorado blaze was 10-percent contained by Monday morning.

The Ute Park Fire in New Mexico had torched more than 36,000 acres (14,569 hectares) by early on Monday, and that it was 23-percent contained, up from zero containment on Sunday morning.