(Athens) A fire southeast of Athens, fanned Wednesday by strong winds and high temperatures, led to the evacuation of two localities, announced Greek authorities, who warned of a “very high risk” fire in several regions.
Published at 12:05 p.m.
Updated at 12:22 p.m.
The “fire spread quickly in the area due to very strong winds with gusts which reached force 8 on the Beaufort scale” (62 to 74 km/h), said the fire brigade spokesperson. , Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, during a press briefing.
“Almost every 10 minutes, we observe the start of a fire” in Greece, worried Mr. Vathrakogiannis, specifying nevertheless that “most” had been able to be brought under control quickly.
About thirty kilometers southeast of the center of Athens, 145 firefighters with 45 vehicles, six planes and 11 helicopters were deployed and automobile traffic was cut in the area, which has many homes close to the small town from Koropi.
The residents of two surrounding villages and three private schools were evacuated preventively, Civil Protection services said.
Alerts were sent to the cell phones of people in the area, they said.
As temperatures of up to 37°C were recorded on Wednesday in Attica, the region surrounding Athens, Civil Protection services warned that the risk of fire was “very high” on Wednesday and Thursday in several areas from the country.
PHOTO PETROS GIANNAKOURIS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Firefighters are trying to put out the fire burning in the suburb of Koropi, east of Athens.
But the Minister of Climate Crisis, Vassilis Kikilias, assured that the fire near Athens, which started in bushes, was of criminal origin and not caused “only by weather conditions”.
“The fire and police investigation authorities have visual material clearly showing a man lighting a fire in dry grass,” he added during a press briefing.
Greece recently toughened penalties for arson. The perpetrators of the fires can now be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to 200,000 euros.
Firefighters are fighting on five main fronts on Wednesday, in the Peloponnese (south), on the Aegean island of Lesbos, in Préveza (northwest), in Larissa (center) and near Thessaloniki (north), according to the authorities.
Civil protection warned that Thursday would again be a day with “very high fire risks”.
Greece, accustomed to heat waves, has been preparing for weeks for a particularly difficult summer on the front of heatwaves and forest fires after having suffered the hottest winter in its history, the authorities have warned.
The Mediterranean country also went through its first severe heat wave last week, with temperatures locally reaching more than 44°C.
It had experienced devastating fires and a two-week heatwave, unprecedented in its duration, in 2023.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), rising temperatures caused by human-caused fossil fuel emissions are lengthening the fire season and increasing the area burned.
