Greece Fights Dozens Of Wildfires In 'most Difficult Day Of Year'

Athens, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Jul, 2024) Firefighters were battling a series of wildfires near the Greek capital Athens on Sunday evening, as the country braces for another scorching summer.

Greece faces a tough wildfire season after its warmest winter and earliest heatwave on record, with temperatures hitting 44°C (111°F).

Two large wildfires were raging in Attica Sunday evening, with residents told to evacuate from at least eight areas near the capital.

Ert channel reported that a 45-year-old-man suffered a lethal cardiac arrest while trying to flee the fire front in suburban Athens.

"Today is the hardest that the Fire Brigade has faced in this year's firefighting season," fire department spokesperson Vasilis Vathrakogiannis said on Sunday afternoon, during an emergency press briefing.

Strong winds are helping spread the fires.

In Keratea, south of Athens, a blaze starting at around 1 pm burnt cars and houses. Ertnews channel reported that at least four houses were completely destroyed.

"The situation is very difficult, as strong winds continue to blow, they have not subsided and the outbreaks are many," the mayor of Lavreotiki, Dimitris Loukas, told Athens news Agency.

However he said a nearby military air base was not currently in danger from the flames.

The fire came a day after another wildfire had erupted in the same area, sparking evacuation orders but was later successfully controlled.

Another blaze ignited in Stamata north of Athens and authorities have sent emergency messages for inhabitants to evacuate.

Fire brigade spokesman noted that wind speeds had exceeded 60 km per hour in Keratea, while in Stamata, the blaze was fanned by strong northerly winds exceeding 70 km an hour.

- Island fires -

A fire also broke out Sunday in an industrial zone in Ritsona, near the island of Evia.

Black smoke filled the sky above Ritsona after the fire started in a recycling factory, burning various flammable materials that were in the grounds around it, including tyres and mattresses.

Firefighters are fighting to prevent the flames from spreading beyond the recycling plant to other factories in the area.

The fire also approached a refugee centre, but the Athens News Agency reported that this was not believed to be in danger.

Separately, a large wildfire broke out on Serifos island on Saturday afternoon, but was also brought under control by firefighters early Sunday.

"All of southwestern Serifos has burned. We are talking about an area where the fire stopped at the sea," Serifos mayor Konstantinos Revintis told MEGA tv.

The fire caused damage to houses, cottages, warehouses and chapels, according to the mayor.

The Fire Danger Forecast Map issued for Sunday by the Civil Protection Ministry predicted a very high category 4 risk of fire for Attica, the Peloponnese, Crete, the North and South Aegean Regions, and central Greece.

A wildfire ignited Saturday afternoon in the area of Mount Parnitha-- known as "the lungs of Athens" -- was controlled Saturday evening with the help of reinforcements from other regions as well as volunteer firefighters.

More than forty wildfires erupted across Saturday in Greece with wind speeds exceeding 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour, according to fire brigade sources.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on Greeks to brace for a difficult wildfire season in his weekly Facebook post on Sunday.

"The difficult times are still ahead of us. Our effort is continuous. In this effort, our allies are new tools that build a new culture of prevention and responsibility," he said.