Greece battles fierce wildfires amid heatwave
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Greece battled three ferocious wildfires across the country, forcing hundreds to evacuate, amid a sweltering heatwave and fears over more blazes.
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Flames burn on the mountain near Limni village on the island of Evia, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Athens, Greece, Tuesday, August 3, 2021. (Photo credit: AP)
Greece on Sunday struggled to put off three major wildfires across the country which forced hundreds to evacuate, as sweltering heat raised fears of more blazes.
The heatwave hitting the country began on Saturday and is expected to last 10 days. In some regions, temperatures were set to rise to 42 degrees Celsius (107 degrees Fahrenheit), and experts blame climate change for the oppressive heat and warned that the situation is not going to improve.
Fires raged in the north, east, and south of Greece, including on the island of Lesbos.
On Sunday afternoon, around 200 people were ordered to evacuate from Vryssa village on Lesbos as flames crept closer and some houses were engulfed by thick clouds of smoke, and others from the village of Stavros, western Lesbos' deputy mayor told Skai radio.
The blaze broke out a day earlier, leading hundreds of tourists and residents from the beachside village of Vatera to evacuate.
In Vatera, at least four houses were destroyed, according to state TV ERT, and an unknown number of hotels, shops, and beach bars in the village were damaged by the fire. Early on Sunday, dozens of firefighters tried to control the blaze, with the help of two helicopters and four water-dropping planes.
A wildfire was ablaze for the fourth day in a national park in the northeastern region of Evros, destroying nearly 500 hectares (1,220 acres) of woodland. The fire needed more than 300 firefighters to be controlled and by late Saturday, the thick smoke resulted in the evacuation of the village.
"The most important thing for us is the safety of the villagers and all forces (which) will be deployed there," Evros governor Dimitris Petrovits told Athens News Agency.
The fire had already moved beyond the raptor birds observatory and was closing in on the buildings of the protected area management unit. Collecting and treating injured animals was the authorities' high priority, according to Petrovits.
In the Peloponnese, a fire broke out early Saturday and forced the evacuation of Chrysokelaria village. Firefighters had managed to contain the fire by midday on Sunday.
On Wednesday, a wildfire in mountains near Athens also ruined homes and obliged hundreds of people to evacuate after gale-force winds earlier in the week.
In 2018, Greece witnessed its worst wildfire disaster which killed 102 people in the coastal suburb of Mati, east of Athens.
The latest fires come after a heatwave and wildfires destroyed last year 103,000 hectares and resulted in the death of three lives in Greece.
Fires in parts of France, Spain, and Portugal have burned this year more land so far than they did in all of 2021.
Read more: More than 1,100 people killed by heatwave in Spain, Portugal
