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.

Wildfires have spread dangerously close to capital cities including Madrid and Athens in the past week, as data shows the number of blazes in Europe has jumped by nearly 50 per cent compared with last year.

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