Turkey faced a “very risky week” for wildfires, an official said Monday, as blazes across parts of southeast Europe and the Balkans damaged homes and led to a huge firefighting operation that included evacuations.

Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks spread rapidly overnight, threatening Bursa and forcing 3,500 to flee. Greece and Bulgaria are also contending with fires.

Istanbul: Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks threatened the country’s fourth-largest city early Sunday, causing more than 1,700 people to flee their homes and leaving a firefighter dead. Overnight fires in the forested mountains surrounding Bursa in northwest Turkey spread rapidly,