Hundreds of people were evacuated as Sunday’s wildfires reached the northern suburbs of Athens 24 hours later.
The wildfire that started at Varnavas, northeast of Athens, has spread like lighting covering at least 20 kilometers over a few hours southwards nearer the Greek capital. Houses were burned in the suburbs of Vrilissia and Nea Penteli, ιν τηε urban fabric of Greek capital.
The fire reached Mount Penteli earlier on Tuesday. The Fire Service said messages had been sent for the evacuation of Nea Penteli, Palia Penteli and urged citizens to move southwards towards the suburbs of Vrilissia and Chalandri.
In the early morning hours of Monday the Children hospital in Penteli, the 414 Military hospital and the Monastery of Penteli were evacuated.
The Civil Protection emergency Line 112 has been continuously sending evacuation messages to residents and summer vacationists, but many locals refuse to leave as they want to protect their homes and businesses.
670 firefighters with 27 teams on foot incl ‘forest commandos’, 183 fire trucks engines and 32 water-dropping aerial means – 17 aircraft and 15 helicopters –, as well as a large number of volunteers and locals operate in the multiple fire fronts assisted by heavy machinery and water trucks of the municipalities.
Athens wildfires in full progress
The wildfires remain in full progress, having affected many areas of northeastern Attica, while the very strong winds, the gusts of which reach 7 on the Beaufort scale, are making the work of the civil protection forces difficult, stated the press representative of the Fire Brigade Vassilis Vathrakogiannis at a press briefing on Monday.
Apart from Penteli and Vrilissia, other major wildfires that still rage in the Attica region are near the historic town of Marathon and Nea Makri, both northeast of Athens.
Television footage shows flames approaching houses while helicopters are trying to douse the fire. Two monasteries in the area have been evacuated.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the fire brigade’s operations centre on Monday morning after rushing back from a holiday break on the island of Crete – with memories still fresh of a 2018 fire that killed 104 people in the seaside town of Mati, near the capital.
After its warmest winter on record and long periods of little or no rainfall, Greece is forecast to record its hottest-ever summer. It is on high fire alert at least until Thursday with temperatures forecast at up to 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
“Unfortunately the forecasts…were confirmed,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said in a televised statement. The state’s response was immediate, he said, and the first aircraft were operating five minutes after the wildfire broke out.