Fire in Greece: firefighters continue their battle against the flames

Firefighters continued their fight against wildfires near Athens on Tuesday for the second day in a row, while many residents were evacuated from the affected seaside areas due to the heat wave.

“Our main concern is the safety of human life,” fire department spokesman Yanis Artopios said during a Tuesday morning press briefing. He stressed that the fight against the flames is on.

According to Yannis Artopios, the most violent front of the fire was located on Tuesday in the Dervenohoria forest, 50 km north of Athens, where 140 firefighters are supported by six water bombers and a helicopter.

In Kouvros, a seaside region 40 km from Athens, where the fire started on Monday and was carried by strong winds to the neighboring towns of Anavissos and Lagonisi, many residents were forced to leave their homes on Monday evening as authorities issued orders to evacuate. Said for Area.

According to images broadcast by the public television channel ERT, several houses were burnt and an equestrian center was threatened by the flames, while a monastery was also evacuated.

On Tuesday, 230 firefighters and 5 helicopters continued to work in this seaside area and traffic was disrupted on the roads around the affected areas.

A third fire was still burning in the seaside resort of Loutraki, near the Isthmus of Corinth, some 80km west of the Greek capital, where 1,200 children were evacuated from holiday camps at risk from the blaze a day earlier.

On this front, 120 firefighters, five aircraft and a helicopter continued to battle the flames on Tuesday.

Greece, like part of Europe, has been in the grip of its first heat wave of the year since last Friday, with a peak of 44.2 degrees Celsius in the area of ​​Thebes (centre), according to the National Observatory of Athens.

On Sunday evening, the thermometer began to drop slightly and the Ministry of Climate Crisis warned of an “increased risk” of fires due to strong winds between 50 and 60 km/h.

Forest fires are common during the summer in Greece. In 2021, massive fires ravaged several parts of the country, killing three people and destroying over 100,000 hectares of forest.

In 2018, more than 100 people died in the country’s deadliest fire in Mati near Athens.