A wildfire that broke out on Wednesday afternoon in the area of Koropi, east of Athens has led authorities in Greece to issue an evacuation order for the residents.
At least two homes were engulfed in flames, according to local officials.
The wildfire broke out in grasses near a side road off the Vari-Koropi Avenue in Attica. The blaze is burning scrubland and, according to the Fire Brigade, it broke out in a boat parking facility.
Sixteen fire engines with 42 firefighters as crew, two teams of firefighters on foot, two firefighting aircraft, and four helicopters are battling the blaze.
A 112 message was sent on Wednesday afternoon, instructing people in Lambrika, in the Attica town of Koropi, to evacuate the area and head toward Agia Marina Avenue.
The message read: “Forest fire in Attica. If you are in the Lambrika area move away toward Agia Marina Avenue. Follow the instructions of the Authorities.”
Several Greek regions, including Greater Athens, are on very high alert for wildfires, while a forest blaze prompted the evacuation of a village on the island of Naxos.
Last year, wildfires forced mass evacuations across Greece, from Rhodes to Corfu, threatening the livelihoods of locals who depend on summer visitors.
Increase in wildfire number in Greece
Greece experienced 3,543 wildfires between January 1st and May 1st. This is an increase of 22 percent compared to last year’s 2,907 blazes, according to the Fire Service, which is bracing for a very difficult season.
What is causing particular alarm is that “some of these fires displayed characteristics similar to blazes we would expect during the summer,” Theodore Giannaros, an expert at the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.
“We are also very alarmed by the fact that we had a blaze at a very high altitude in the Pierian Mountains, which should have been covered by snow that would have prevented such a fire from starting,” he added.
Last winter was the warmest since modern records began being kept in 1960, according to the National Observatory of Athens, which analyzed European Union satellite data. The six warmest Greek winters on record have occurred in the past decade.
Accidentally starting a wildfire is now a criminal act
Accidentally starting a wildfire is now a criminal act, while even the smallest fire can quickly rage out of control in the current conditions, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vasilis Kikilias warned in a social media post on Wednesday. He was commenting on the arrest of a 30-year-old Greek man on Tuesday for starting a wildfire in Nigrita, Serres.
Announcing the arrest, Kikilias noted that the 30-year-old “confessed that while carrying out agricultural work, he caused the dangerous fire we faced in Nigrita, Serres.”
The minister also noted that “the law has been made stricter and negligence constitutes a criminal act”.
This is a developing story