The Ert television channel reported that a 45-year-old man died of cardiac arrest while trying to flee the flames in Stamata, north of Athens, where winds exceeding 70 km/h were recorded. Sunday was “the most difficult day that firefighters have faced in fighting fires this year,” firefighters spokesperson Vasilis Vathrakogiannis insisted to the press.
In Keratea, south of the capital, the fire that broke out around 1 p.m. has affected cars and houses, at least four of which have been completely destroyed, according to Ertnews. “The situation is very difficult because strong winds continue to blow,” at speeds of over 60 km/h, and “there are many fires,” the mayor of Lavreotiki, Dimitris Loukas, told the ANA news agency. However, he assured that the nearby air base was not threatened for the time being. The day before, a fire had already broken out in the same area, before being brought under control.
Black smoke
The industrial area of Ritsona on the island of Evia, which stretches for nearly 160 km in the Aegean Sea, was also engulfed in flames on Sunday. Black smoke rose above a recycling plant, where tires, mattresses and other materials were piled up. Firefighters were trying to prevent the blaze from spreading to other factories.
Separately, a large forest fire that started Saturday afternoon on the island of Serifos was extinguished by firefighters early Sunday. “The entire southwest of Serifos burned. The flames stopped when they reached the sea,” Serifos mayor Konstantinos Revintis told MEGA TV. Damage was caused to houses, warehouses or chapels, he lamented.
“Hard times”
The forecast map published by the Civil Protection Ministry for Sunday warned of a very high risk of fires for Attica, the southern Peloponnese peninsula, the island of Crete, the northern and southern Aegean Sea and central Greece. On Saturday, a forest fire on Mount Parnitha, not far from Athens, was finally brought under control after several hours, with the help of reinforcements from other regions and volunteer firefighters.
In total, that day, more than forty fires broke out in Greece, with winds often exceeding 100 km/h, according to the fire department. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in his weekly Facebook message on Sunday, urged his compatriots to prepare for a situation that could get even worse.
