Firefighters battled on Monday to put out wildfires in three separate provinces of Turkey, in Greece and near a tourist resort in Albania, stoked by strong winds after days of searing heat across the Mediterranean region.

An official in Turkey says the country faces a “very risky week” for wildfires as blazes across parts of southeast Europe and the Balkans damaged homes and led to a huge firefighting operation that included evacuations.

Wildfires are currently raging in Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria amid a 44°C heatwave, ongoing droughts and strong winds. A map from Nasa shows how flames have spread across the region in the last week despite efforts to contain them. What has become clear is that climate change is accelerating the disaster in a region already on the brink.