For Greece, the danger carried grim resonance: a 2018 wildfire at the seaside community of Mati, near Athens, killed 104 people, making it Europe’s deadliest wildfire this century. In southwestern France, firefighters held a vast wildfire within its perimeter, with about 198,000 people now allowed home after what may have been the country’s largest peacetime evacuation. Major fires in Spain were also no longer advancing, and Portugal’s main blaze was under control. Rising temperatures and prolonged drought leave vegetation drier and more combustible, allowing fires to spread faster and burn more intensely. The operation also included specialized forest-fire teams, crews temporarily deployed from France and Romania, 19 water-dropping planes and 11 helicopters.