Thousands of people were evacuated late on Wednesday as fires threatened a tourist resort on the Greek island of Crete and continued to rage on Thursday, fanned by violent winds, a local official said.'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.The evacuations were decided as the fire, which broke out Wednesday and had earlier killed two firefighters, 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 the fire is ongoing, Lioni said, calling it a 'dark day.'Two firefighters were trapped on a mountain road near the village of Krya Vrysi and died as the winds kept changing direction.A third firefighter collapsed and died during efforts to put out a separate fire near Gytheio in the Peloponnese peninsula.It comes as Europe is battling some of the worst wildfires in living memory across multiple popular holiday destinations including France, Spain and Turkey:A wildfire broke out on Thursday morning in Germany's Chiemgau Alps mountain range. 200 firefighters and emergency personnel are on the scene. In Spain, 207,000 hectares (511,000 acres) of land have burned nationwide, as firefighters continue to tackle a week-long wildfire outside Madrid. A new wildfire broke out on Wednesday near Spain's border with Portugal, forcing the evacuation of more than 600 people.In France, some 92,000 hectares have burned after a devastating fire swept through Bordeaux. New fires have now erupted between the cities of Marseille and Nice and in the Burgundy region.Turkish firefighters on Wednesday battled wildfires near the country's southern tourist beaches that have forced the evacuation of hundreds of people. Flames and ember rise as a wildfire burns next to the village of Krya Vrysi on the island of Crete A volunteer works to extinguish a fire in low-lying vegetation in Krya Vrysi, Rethymno, Crete