The violent fires that broke out on Sunday in the suburbs of Athens “have been brought under control”, a fire brigade spokesman told AFP on Monday, as Greek authorities fear a difficult summer.
“There is no longer an active front, the fires were contained by firefighters supported on Sunday by water bombers and helicopters, who fought in very dangerous conditions,” said Vassilis Vathrakoyannis.
Fanned by strong winds of 70 km/h and drought, two forest fires broke out at midday on Sunday in Keratea, a seaside resort east of the capital, and Stamata, a particularly wooded suburb at the foot of Mount Penteli, in the north of Athens.
A 45-year-old man died of cardiac arrest while trying to flee the flames in Stamata, where several houses suffered significant material damage.
The authorities carried out evacuations.
On Monday, 52 forest fires were recorded by firefighters.
The most difficult situation remains on the island of Chios, in the northeast of the Aegean Sea, where 142 firefighters, seven planes and three helicopters have been deployed, Vassilis Vathrakoyannis said Monday evening.
Two firefighters were slightly injured during this operation, he also added.
A tourist hotspot, Greece is plagued by fires every summer.
But the situation is expected to be even more tense this year after the mildest winter on record and the earliest heatwave, with temperatures rising locally to 44°C in early June.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis declared during a council of ministers that his country had “now entered the heart of the fire season” and called on his fellow citizens to contribute to “the prevention” of these devastating fires.
“The fight against fires will continue” and “it will certainly not be won without the help of citizens, particularly in the area of prevention,” he stressed.
On Sunday, he warned the Greeks that “difficult times” were “ahead” of them.
This June “is characterized as the warmest since 2010 (…) with average monthly values up to 4.8°C above the normal for the season,” the national weather service indicated on its website.
On Saturday, two fires on Mount Parnassus near Athens and on the island of Serifos in the Cyclades were contained.
On Sunday, huge black smoke rose 75 km from Athens, on the highway linking the capital to Thessaloniki (north) when a fire broke out in a recycling plant in the industrial zone of Ritsona.
According to an initial assessment, in each of the two “very difficult” fires on Mount Parnès and Stamata, less than 100 hectares appear to have been burned, said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who specified that the fires had been detected in time thanks to the use of drones.
“Currently there is no more wind, which has helped to control the majority of fires across the country apart from those on the island of Zakynthos (west) and in Distomo in Boeotia (100 km north of Athens),” said Vassilis Vathrakoyannis.
