Greek Firefighters Battle Raging Wildfire Near Athens for Second Day
ATHENS, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Greek firefighters, supported by aircraft, are fighting an intense wildfire near Athens for a second day. Authorities are warning that heat and strong winds could ignite more blazes in a country where 20 people have already lost their lives.
Since fires broke out in northern Greece on Saturday, hundreds of people have been forced to evacuate their homes across the country. The summer’s second major outbreak of wildfires has been fueled by high winds, with the fire brigade reporting several fires across mainland Greece.
“Conditions remain difficult, and in several cases extreme,” said Fire Brigade spokesperson Ioanis Artopios. “All Civil Protection forces remain on alert and are fighting the fires.”
The fire near Athens, which is about 20 km (15 miles) north of the city near the village of Fyli on the foothills of Mount Parnitha, is being battled by 202 firefighters, supported by volunteers, as well as 65 vehicles and 15 aircraft, some of which were sent from Sweden and Germany.
The capital city has been engulfed in smoke and ash since the blaze ignited on Tuesday. By Wednesday, the flames had spread toward the town of Menidi, resulting in the evacuation of approximately 150 people from three nursing homes to hotels and other care facilities.
“We kept the fire away from homes,” said Stathis Topalidis, deputy mayor of Menidi, describing the evacuation. “Unfortunately, the wind isn’t helping at all.”
The fire has caused significant destruction, burning homes and cars in Fyli and forcing residents to flee on foot, with some using their clothes to cover their faces due to the smoke. Volunteers have also loaded sheep into car trunks to save them.
Tragically, rescuers discovered 18 burned bodies on Tuesday, believed to be migrants, in an area near Dadia forest in Greece’s northern Evros region, which borders Turkey. This region is a common route for people from the Middle East and Asia attempting to enter the European Union.
In the nearby Greek port city of Alexandroupolis, dozens of hospital patients, some on stretchers and others needing IV drips, were evacuated onto a ferry.
A satellite image broadcast on state television revealed that smoke from the Evros fires had drifted across the country to the Ionian islands in the northwest, not far from Italy.
While summer wildfires are common in Greece, this year they have been exacerbated by exceptionally hot, dry, and windy weather, which scientists link to climate change.
In July, tens of thousands of foreign tourists were evacuated from the island of Rhodes, where a fire burned for a week, destroying hotels, resorts, and large areas of land.
Reporting by Karolina Tagaris; Editing by Edmund Blair
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