More towns evacuated in Greece as wildfire sweeps through Athens

Photo: Angelos Tzortzinis Agence France-Presse The Parthenon, located atop the Acropolis in Athens, was shrouded in a cloud of smoke from a forest fire on Monday. Extreme weather conditions are expected to last all week in Greece, with smoke now covering part of the capital.

Anna Maria Jakubek – Agence France-Presse and Marina Rafenberg – Agence France-Presse to Penteli

Published yesterday at 8:48 AM Updated yesterday at 5:51 PM

• Europe

Massive fires continued to spread across the northeastern suburbs of Athens on Monday despite the deployment of hundreds of firefighters, forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes and prompting Greece to call on the European Union (EU) for help.

In unprecedented scenes in the capital, residents wearing masks to protect themselves from the choking fumes doused their homes with water, hoping to make them less vulnerable to the flames that have swept through the wooded suburbs of Nea Penteli and Vrilissia.

Television footage showed the flames ravaging cars and the roofs of buildings in both communities, with helicopters dropping water in an attempt to combat the blaze.

“This is the first time the fire has come this far,” said Melina Kritseli, 40, a civil servant living in a white two-story house in Patima Halandriou, another Athens suburb that was evacuated.

“I took my children to a friend’s house so they would be safe,” she told Agence France-Presse as her husband watered the ground and lawn around their home.

“The situation is dramatic,” Penteli Mayor Natassa Kosmopoulou told the news website newsit.gr. “A school and homes are on fire and I see the fire approaching the town hall. »

The fire, whose smoke is covering part of the capital, broke out on Sunday afternoon in Varnavas, 35 km northeast of Athens, and its rapid spread has forced the country to launch an appeal for help.

“The EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated at the request of the Greek authorities,” EU spokesman Balazs Ujvari said in a statement on Monday, adding that Italy, France, the Czech Republic and Romania were sending reinforcements.

“We stand with Greece as it battles devastating fires,” EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X.

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said France was sending 180 firefighters, 55 trucks and a helicopter. Aid from Spain and Turkey was also being “finalised”, the Greek Civil Protection Ministry said.

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The fire has already forced authorities to order the evacuation of more towns in the northeastern suburbs of Athens on Monday, following the evacuation of the city of Marathon the day before, which has more than 7,000 inhabitants.

In the morning, five municipalities were evacuated, as well as two hospitals, one pediatric and the other military. Simos Roussos, the mayor of Chalandri, one of Athens' largest suburbs with more than 70,000 residents, also asked residents of neighborhoods near the fire to leave their homes.

“Due to the wind direction, we have decided on a precautionary evacuation […] The fire is very close,” he told ERT television.

“The Civil Protection forces have been fighting all night, and despite superhuman efforts, the fire continues to spread very quickly and is heading towards Penteli,” said Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, a spokesman for the fire brigade.

“Biblical catastrophe”

Greek authorities have opened the OAKA Olympic stadium in northern Athens to accommodate thousands of displaced people. One firefighter was seriously injured and another was hospitalized with respiratory problems, according to a firefighter spokesman.

The fire brings back memories of the Mati fire disaster, the coastal area near Marathon, where 104 people died in July 2018 in a tragedy blamed on evacuation delays and errors.

“We are facing a biblical catastrophe. “Our entire municipality is engulfed in flames,” Marathon Mayor Stergios Tsirkas told Skai TV.

The fire front now stretches over 30 kilometres, according to ERT.

A total of 670 firefighters and 183 vehicles have been deployed, and 32 aircraft are flying over the area, Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said.

“We are all working 24 hours a day,” Marinos Peristeropoulos, a firefighter deployed to Grammatiko, one of the most difficult fronts of the blaze, told Agence France-Presse. “The fire spread very quickly because of the strong wind.”

The Union of Pulmonologists warned against exercising outdoors in the Greek capital and that pregnant women and vulnerable people should limit their outdoor movements. The fires have led Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to cut short his holiday.

Burned olive trees

The extreme weather conditions are expected to be difficult throughout the week.

Greece is particularly vulnerable to wildfires, having suffered a very dry winter. June and July were the hottest months since records began in 1960.

Scientists point out that fossil fuel emissions are worsening the duration, frequency and intensity of heatwaves around the world.

Other parts of Europe are also grappling with high temperatures: some parts of France exceeded 40°C on Sunday, and in Rome, temperatures are expected to reach 38°C on Monday and remain around 36°C this week.