Race against time to evacuate people near Athens as wildfires rage
A series of new wildfire are raging near Athens where temperatures reached 38°C over the weekend.
Firefighters sent to the town of Keratea, 22 miles southeast of the Greek capital, are in a race against time as strong winds continue to ignite the flames.
Evacuations are ongoing as the fire reached multiple homes, destroying at least four, alongside several cars. Miraculously, no injuries have been reported.
Deputy mayor of Lavreotiki, Athanasios Makrodimitris, told local media: ‘Before my eyes, two or three houses are burning.’
The emergency alert system 112 was activated, urging residents to flee from six areas in total near Athens.
Water-dropping planes and helicopters were also drafted to attempt to contain the blaze this afternoon. Meanwhile, police stopped traffic in many central roads in the broader area.
The first blaze, south east of the capital, began in early afternoon. Flames were approaching the port of Lavrio, about 37 miles south east of Athens. It is an area that has suffered from wildfires in recent years.
A second, fast-moving fire began north of Athens, near the suburb of Stamata.
It was burning through scrubland and forest and moving up the 3,600ft Mount Penteli, one of four mountains ringing the capital, which is known as ‘the lungs of Athens’.
All of Greece is on high alert as the dry weather and a heatwave have worsened the conditions. More than 40 wildfires erupted across Saturday.
Prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on the nation to brace for a difficult season in his weekly Facebook post on Sunday.
He said: ‘The difficult times are still ahead of us. Our effort is continuous. In this effort, our allies are new tools that build a new culture of prevention and responsibility.’
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