See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 14:52 BST, 18 July 2026 | Updated: 15:01 BST, 18 July 2026
A massive wildfire has torn through Norway, destroying over 100 houses and forcing scores of families to evacuate. The blaze in southern Norway started in a townhouse in the city of Drammen on Friday afternoon, before spreading through the area and into nearby forests, police said. Firefighters on Saturday continued to tackle the flames amid strong winds. The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection said on Saturday that it was the largest fire of its kind in modern times. NRK, Norway's public broadcaster, said hundreds of people were in an evacuation centre. Images and videos showed clouds of thick, black smoke engulfing a residential area as firefighters battled to contain the flames. No residents have been reported missing, and the exact cause of the fire remains unknown. It is the latest wildfire to tear through Europe. Smoke and flames rise from a huge fire that has spread from terraced houses by the Krokstadelva in Drammen, Norway, 17 July 2026 According to the police, over 100 houses were destroyed in a fire that spread to the surrounding area Firefighters were still tackling the flames on Saturday Pictured: Fireifighters at the scene of the large fire in DrammenLast week, a fire ravaged a remote expat community in southern Spain, killing 13 people. All but one of the deceased in the Spanish wildfire, all of whom were adults, were foreign nationals. They include seven British citizens — including a 93-year-old woman who died in the hospital — three Belgian nationals, a French woman, an American and a Spanish national, judicial authorities said in a statement this week. Regional authorities initially believed 23 people were missing, but they all have been accounted for since investigators identified all of the fire’s victims.The Los Gallardos fire affected some 27 square miles of forest and farmland. It was one of fire-prone Spain’s deadliest blazes in years.Spain is experiencing extreme heat, which, combined with wind and little rainfall, is creating the ideal conditions for small wildfires to grow unchecked.Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
