Greek villages are evacuated as wildfires destroy houses near Athens

A wildfire near Athens fanned by strong winds and high temperatures has seen blazes breaking out 'every ten minutes' and forced officials to evacuate nearby houses. Two villages and three private schools near the small town of Koropi were evacuated as a precaution, Greek authorities said on Wednesday.

Climate crisis and civil protection minister Vassilis Kikilias pointed the finger at arsonists and said the fire near Athens was of criminal origin and not caused 'solely by weather conditions'. 'The fire department and police investigating authorities have visual material clearly showing a man lighting a fire in dry grass,' he added at a press briefing.

Around 145 firefighters, 45 vehicles, six airplanes and 11 helicopters were deployed to tackle the blaze, some 19 miles southeast of the capital. Fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told the press: 'Fire spread rapidly in the area due to very strong winds with gusts that reached force eight on the Beaufort scale.' This is equal to gale speeds of up to 45 miles per hour.

Mr Vathrakogiannis said the service was seeing fires break out 'almost every 10 minutes' in the heat, while adding that most had been quickly brought under control. Officials said the wildfire broke out in low scrub and olive trees in a sparsely inhabited area near Vari - 18 miles from Athens.

With temperatures reaching 37 degrees in the Attica region surrounding the capital, Greece's civil protection services warned of a 'very high' fire risk on Wednesday and Thursday in several parts of the country. Scores of Greek firefighters and water-bombing aircraft successfully tamed the large wildfire on the fringes of Athens - but said they would remain alert to stop it reviving.

But firefighters continue to battle blazes on five fronts on the Peloponnese peninsula, on the Aegean island of Lesbos, in Preveza, in Larissa and near Thessaloniki, according to the authorities. The flames consumed nearly 432,000 acres of forest and farmland, according to the National Observatory of Athens.

Scientists warn that human-induced fossil fuel emissions are worsening the length, frequency and intensity of heatwaves across the world. The rising temperatures are leading to longer wildfire seasons and increasing the area burnt in the flames, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Regularly hit by searing summer temperatures, Greece experienced what meteorologists said was its earliest heatwave in recorded history last week. In 2023, the Mediterranean country experienced a two-week heatwave unprecedented in its duration that was followed by devastating wildfires.

Summer wildfires also plagued Greece's Mediterranean neighbor Türkiye, where two villages were evacuated but no injuries were reported.

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