An Ilyushin water bomber aircraft borrowed from Russia was doing its best to put out forest fires in Serbia, while Albania waited for whatever help it could get.
"We are waiting for answers to our requests for additional equipment, but unfortunately our neighbours are busy fighting their fires and they also need more equipment," said Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha.
While Romania registered a welcome drop in temperatures, there was no respite for Greece, which suffered in 45 degrees Celsius heat (113 Fahrenheit). An elderly woman died from heatstroke, the second Greek victim in two days.
In Romania, three more heat-related deaths pushed the toll to 33 as temperatures reached an all-time high of 44.2 Celsius on Tuesday, Health Minister Eugen Nicolaescu said.
Nicolaescu said the week-long heat was now abating.
Temperatures in Serbia dropped 10 degrees from the 40-plus of the past week but, as with its neighbours, forest fires and power-cuts kept the emergency services busy.
"All of our 618 foresters have been in the field day and night for the last six days, and another 2,500 employees are on standby. The response of the local population was, in spite of all appeals, very poor," said Jesa Ercic of the Serbian forest service, coping with over 100 fires.