Greece ? Fires raged Thursday in several southern European nations, burning through villages, forests and farmland and stretching firefighting services to the limit, even as a weeklong heat wave blamed for dozens of deaths began to abate.

The fires were blamed for at least three deaths overnight in Greece, where hundreds of firefighters and soldiers tackled 100 blazes, 15 of which were burning out of control.

A regional heat wave has fueled the blazes but temperatures began to dip Thursday, falling from 113 degrees to a predicted high of 102 degrees in Athens and to about 86 degrees in Serbia. Romania, where 33 deaths were blamed on the heat wave, also saw temperatures fall from 106 degrees to 88 degrees. Cooler weather was predicted until Sunday, when the heat was expected to spike again.