A violent forest fire ravaged many seaside localities near Athens on Thursday, damaging dwellings and leading dozens of evacuations in this region prized by Greek and foreign tourists.
The fire broke out in the seaside localities of Palaia Fokaia and Thymari, 50 km southeast of Athens, and led to the evacuation of five villages, according to firefighters. Their spokesperson, Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, spoke of “a huge battle against the flames between the dwellings”.
Some 130 firefighters, volunteers, a dozen planes and helicopters, as well as two coast guard boats are mobilized. “This is a difficult fire fueled by strong winds,” a manager of the fire department told AFP.
Triggered around 12:30 p.m. locals, the fire quickly gained intensity and quickly spread with winds of an intensity of six on the Beaufort scale and temperatures oscillating between 35 and 37 degrees during the day.
Fields, olive groves and land as well as some dwellings were destroyed by the flames.
Kostas Tsiguas, president of the Union of Firemen, said that at least 50 people were evacuated by firefighters.
The firefighters evacuated residents, including children, who were at their home while orders to leave were sent via the emergency for civil protection, according to public television ERT.
According to the images broadcast by ERT, two firefighters tried to turn off the fire in the courtyard of a house, when the roof collapsed under the flames, while a thick cloud of black smoke covered Palaia Fokaia and the beaches close to the Saronic Gulf.
Dimitris Papachristos, the mayor of the municipality of Saronique, which includes several evacuated municipalities, described the situation as extremely difficult because the winds do not stop “.
“Structures have been opened to welcome those who have been evacuated. The whole municipality is on alert,” he added, quoted by the Greek news agency Ana.
“Dramatic” situation
Traffic was interrupted by the police on the main avenue along the southern coast of the capital connecting Athens to Cap Sounion, where the fire front extends.
Very popular with Greek and foreign vacationers, this region includes many secondary houses in Athenians.
“It is a violent fire, an extraordinary meeting of the coordination unit will take place in the coming hours,” said Atticte, the region of Athens.
On the Mega channel, the deputy mayor of Palaia Fokaia, Stavros Petropoulos, described the situation as “dramatic”. “The inhabitants told us that the fire had started because of a spark from a faulty electric cable,” he noted.
Located in the south-east of the Mediterranean, Greece is particularly vulnerable to fires each summer, powered by strong winds, drought and high temperatures.
Thursday, Mercury reached up to 40 degrees in Attica. This first heat wave in Greece must continue until Saturday, according to weather forecasts.
According to civil protection, the fire risk index on Thursday is “very high”, as well as for Friday, especially in Attica and the northern islands of the Aegean Sea. During the last 24 hours, 45 fires declared themselves in Greece, according to the firefighters.
Since Sunday, another forest fire has been underway on the island of Chios in the northeast of the Aegean Sea. He has so far ranged over 4000 hectares, according to the European Observatory Copernicus.
Last year, some 45,000 hectares left for smoke throughout Greece, including a devastating fire in the northern suburbs of the Greek capital having killed a dead.
This article was published automatically. Sources: ATS / AFP
