While parts of England mop up after devastating floods, much of eastern Europe and the Balkans are praying for rain after the hottest summer on record killed hundreds of people and sparked wildfires across thousands of hectares of land, writes Daniel McLaughlinin Budapest.

In Romania, where more than 30 people have died in the second heatwave in a month, about 1,000 people gathered at a church in the northeastern city of Iasi to seek divine intervention in the form of cooler temperatures and much-needed rain.

In Bulgaria, prayers are being said for the Unesco-listed Rila monastery, which is in danger from wildfires that have engulfed some 23,000 hectares of woodland as the mercury rose to 45 degrees.

As emergency workers fought the blazes, and specially adapted aircraft and helicopters dropped water on the affected areas, Bulgarian police arrested about 20 people who are suspected of starting the fires.

In Greece, hundreds of firemen are fighting to protect villages and tourist resorts from fire in the northwestern areas of Ioannina, Florina, Kozani, Pieria and Thesprotia.

About 60,000 hectares of Greek forest have been ravaged by fire since the beginning of June, including one-third of a protected national park north of Athens.

Five firemen have died trying to extinguish the blazes.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation said this week that arson or carelessness was to blame for the vast majority of Europe's forest fires.

"About 50,000 fires sweep through as many as one million hectares of Mediterranean forest and other woodlands each year," the FAO said in a statement.

"In the Mediterranean, up to 95 per cent of fires are caused by people.

"Arson and negligence, especially in the disposal of discarded cigarettes and the careless handling of barbecues and fires in camping sites, are the cause of many wildfires."

In Italy, farmers' groups said 5,000 hectares of agricultural land worth €1 billion had been damaged by forest fires that have plagued the regions of Campania around Naples and Abruzzo, Calabria, Sicily and Apulia.

"Most of the fires of the past few days have been of a criminal nature," the World Wide Fund for Nature said of the Italian fires.

"It is well known that fire almost always serves to get rid of trees and other natural obstacles to make way for new hotels, villas or pastures."

On Spain's Canary Islands, a forest ranger who raised the alarm about a wildfire has reportedly confessed to starting it himself, in a bid to win an extension to his contract, which was due to expire in September.

About 5,000 locals and tourists have been evacuated on Gran Canaria as fire spread on nine fronts towards towns and villages.

More than 200 firefighters, army and other emergency workers, backed by seven helicopters and a water-bombing plane, were battling a blaze that has destroyed over 10,000 hectares of land.

On neighbouring Tenerife, some 2,600 hectares of pine forest have burned.

On mainland Spain, about 200 people backed by two helicopters and three water-bombers were fighting a blaze near the southern town of Cordoba.

In the searing heat, arsonists are not the only concern for police across southern Europe: in Serbia, two Austrians and a German were fined €125 each for cycling naked along the banks of the Danube in a desperate attempt to cool off.