ATHENS, Greece — Wildfires intensified across southern Europe on Wednesday with a round-the-clock battle to protect the perimeter of Greece’s third-largest city and at least three deaths reported in Spain, Turkey and Albania.

Firefighters were struggling to tame blazes in several countries in southern Europe, including Albania, Greece, Montenegro, Spain, and Turkey.

A scorching heatwave is fuelling dozens of wildfires across parts of southern Europe, forcing thousands of people from their homes and pushing temperatures above 40C (104F). Red heat alerts have been issued in parts of Italy,