The scenes from Europe are hauntingly familiar for Australians - blood red skies, mass evacuations and a look of helplessness etched on peoples' faces.
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Firefighters and residents on Greece's second largest island have battled a massive forest fire for a seventh day.
The smoke and ash from the fire on Evia, a rugged island of forests and coves almost touching the Greek mainland, blocked out the sun, turning the sky orange as the blaze rampaged across the northern part of the island.
It is reminiscent of the blazes that left much of the NSW south coast scorched wasteland in 2019.
The fire is the most severe of dozens that have broken out across Greece in the past week, after the country was baked by its worst heat wave in three decades which sent temperatures soaring to 45 degrees Celsius for days. The heat has turned Greece's forests, including large areas of easily flammable pine trees, into bone-dry tinderboxes.
Other big fires have been burning forests and farmland in the southern Greek region of the Peloponnese, while a major blaze that burned through homes, businesses and forests on the northern fringes of Athens was on the wane.
More than 20 countries in Europe and the Mideast have responded, sending planes, helicopters, vehicles and manpower.
Massive fires have also raged for more than 10 days in neighbouring Turkey, where firefighters were still trying to extinguish blazes in five locations.
Then there's Canada. A 55-strong expert Australian team is now in Canada helping to deal with wildfires, which have been likened to NSW's 2019-20 bushfires.
Inspector Tim Hassiotis, who works in Fire and Rescue NSW headquarters, left last week for North America.
"Much of Western Canada has been experiencing hot and dry weather with large fires currently burning in British Colombia and Ontario," Inspector Hassiotis said after arriving in Canada on a charter flight.
"Canadian firefighting specialists travelled to NSW during the 2019-2020 bushfire season to assist our efforts, and this is a fantastic way to repay the favour.
"I am extremely proud to represent FRNSW and Australia."
Meanwhile in the wake of an alarming report on changed climate, Prime Minister Scott Morrison is pinning his hopes on technology "changing everything".
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on Monday warned the global temperatures could rise by as much as 1.5 degrees by next decade, demanding a coordinated international response to avert catastrophe.
The federal government has refused to join the rest of the developed world by committing to net zero emissions by 2050, instead aiming to reach the target as quickly as possible.
Mr Morrison has pinned his hopes on a technological breakthrough and, despite the IPCC's damning report, remained unmoved on Tuesday.
"World history teaches one thing: technology changes everything. That is the game changer," he said.
- with AAP
