(Durban-Corbières) Hundreds of firefighters are fighting in Greece on Saturday for the second consecutive day against a major fire near Athens who left a dead, and 1400 others are mobilized in France against a fire which has already traveled 16,000 hectares and will not be mastered before Sunday evening.
In Athens, the presence of violent winds raises fears of a fire spread, the Greek national meteorological service having announced for Saturday winds of up to 74 kilometers per hour.
More than 260 firefighters, 80 fire trucks and 12 planes are deployed in Keratea, a rural area around 43 kilometers southeast of Athens, said a spokesperson for firefighters.
“Fire has weakened, but there are still active homes,” the spokesman for AFP told.
Dozens of people were evacuated from their homes and a care center for the elderly on Friday evening, while the flames were close to the seaside resort of Palaia Fokaia.
PHOTO ARIS MESSINIS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A helicopter to fight Erickson fires filled with water in the sea during a forest fire in Palaia Fokaia, about 45 km south of Athens, on August 9, 2025.
The firefighters then found the body of an elderly man in a hut near the city of Keratea.
In the south of France, the fire that has ravaged a forest massif since Tuesday, has been the worst for at least 50 years around the French Mediterranean, with 16,000 hectares traveled therefore 13,000 burned, according to civil security.
The fire will not be “declared extinguished for several days,” warned the authorities, adding that “there is still a lot of work”.
And the firefighters expect a difficult end of the weekend because a dry and hot wind at 50 km/h and temperatures around 40 degrees are expected on Sunday.
“The fire is fixed but uncontrolled, we still have hot spots […] Until Sunday evening the fire will not be under control, ”said Colonel Christophe Magny on Saturday during a press point.
On Saturday, when the Aude’s department concerned is on orange heat wave, the firefighters remain on the alert, monitor the 90 kilometers of borders to “prevent fire from the front”, in the closest part of the Mediterranean coast and the A9 motorway which he had almost reached Wednesday.
PHOTO BERTRAND GUAY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
With its calcined landscapes as far as the eye can see, the fire which ravaged 16,000 hectares in the department of Aude in forty-eight hours before being mastered on August 7.
Thanks to bulldozers, 10 km of tracks were created to open new access and facilitate the intervention of firefighters in steep areas, where the vegetation is dense.
After having had to leave their accommodation in the precipitation on Tuesday, the last people evacuated were authorized on Friday evening to return to the 15 villages impacted by the fire.
Thirty-six houses were destroyed, others damaged, and more than a hundred households remain without electricity.
A woman died in her house in the rural village of Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, the most affected by fire, another resident is seriously burned. Four people were slightly injured.
In the rows of firefighters, nineteen were injured, one of which has undergone a head trauma.
According to the first elements of the investigation, the fire started on the side of a road.
