Greek authorities on Sunday evening ordered the evacuation of the historic city of Marathon, near Athens, which was threatened by wildfires, firefighters announced. Greece was battling several forest fires on Sunday, with smoke covering part of the capital, Athens, amid warnings of extreme weather conditions for the rest of the week.
By Sunday afternoon, firefighters had managed to control 33 of the 40 fires that had broken out in the past 24 hours, firefighter spokesman Vasilios Vathrakogiannis told reporters. The fires prompted Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to interrupt his vacation and return to Athens on Sunday evening.
Greece's civil protection minister warned on Saturday that half of the country was at significant risk of fire until at least August 15 due to high temperatures, gusty winds and drought.
Evacuation order
In the province of eastern Attica, a fire in the town of Varnavas raged through an area of scattered houses, sending out so much smoke that Athens was partly enveloped in its cloud of smoke on Sunday afternoon.
Fire officials said a force of 250 men with 67 vehicles, 12 planes and seven helicopters had been deployed, supported by soldiers who were mobilized. In Varnavas and its surroundings, residents were ordered to evacuate. Another fire broke out earlier on Sunday afternoon in Megara, in western Attica, triggering an evacuation alert. Near Thessaloniki (east), a fire in Langadas was partially brought under control.
Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the Athens Observatory, told ERTNews on Sunday that the response to the fires had to be swift, otherwise, given the current weather conditions, the fires could quickly get out of control. With winds reaching 80-90 km/h in some areas, he added that Sunday was expected to be the most difficult day.
Greece is exceptionally vulnerable to summer wildfires, especially after a particularly dry winter. June and July were the hottest months since records began in 1960. Scientists warn that human-caused fossil fuel emissions are worsening the duration, frequency and intensity of heatwaves around the world.
Rising temperatures are leading to a longer wildfire season and an increase in the area burned by wildfires worldwide, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Source: Lemonde
