Forest fires | Athens threatened by flames, Greece calls for help

(Penteli) Massive fires continued to spread Monday in the northeastern suburbs of Athens despite the deployment of hundreds of firefighters, forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes and prompting Greece to call on the EU for help.

In unprecedented scenes in the capital, residents wearing masks to protect themselves from the suffocating fumes sprayed their homes with water, hoping to make them less vulnerable to the flames that have spread to the wooded suburbs of Nea Penteli and Vrilissia.

In both towns, television footage showed flames ravaging cars and the roofs of buildings, with helicopters flying over them dropping water to try to combat the fire.

“This is the first time the fire has come this far,” said Melina Kritseli, 40, a civil servant living in a two-story white house in Patima Halandriou, another Athens suburb that was evacuated.

“I took my children to a friend’s house to be safe,” she told AFP as her husband watered the ground and lawn around their home.

“The situation is dramatic,” Penteli Mayor Natassa Kosmopoulou told newsit.gr. “A school and homes are on fire and I see the fire approaching the town hall.”

The fire, whose smoke is covering part of the capital, broke out on Sunday afternoon in Varnavas, 35 km northeast of Athens, and its rapid spread has forced the country to launch an appeal for help.

“The EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated at the request of the Greek authorities,” European Union spokesman Balazs Ujvari said in a statement on Monday, adding that Italy, France, the Czech Republic and Romania were sending reinforcements.

“We stand with Greece as it fights devastating fires,” wrote European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen on X.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said France was sending 180 firefighters, 55 trucks and a helicopter. Aid from Spain and Turkey is also being “finalized,” the Greek Civil Protection Ministry said.

The fire has already forced the authorities to order the evacuation of new towns in the northeastern suburbs of Athens on Monday, after that of the city of Marathon the day before, which has more than 7,000 inhabitants.

In the morning, five municipalities were evacuated, as well as two hospitals, one pediatric and one military. Simos Roussos, the mayor of Chalandri, one of the largest suburbs of Athens with more than 70,000 inhabitants, also asked residents of neighborhoods near the fire to leave their homes.

“Due to the wind direction, we decided on a preventive evacuation […] “The fire is very close,” he told ERT television.

“The civil protection forces have been fighting all night and despite superhuman efforts, the fire continues to spread very quickly and is heading towards Penteli,” explained Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, spokesman for the fire brigade.

“Biblical Catastrophe”

Greek authorities have opened the OAKA Olympic stadium in northern Athens to accommodate thousands of displaced people. One firefighter was seriously injured and another hospitalized with respiratory problems, according to a firefighter spokesman.

The fire has revived memories of the Mati fire disaster, the coastal area near Marathon where 104 people died in July 2018 in a tragedy blamed on evacuation delays and errors.

“We are facing a biblical catastrophe. Our entire municipality is engulfed in flames,” Marathon Mayor Stergios Tsirkas told Skai TV.

According to ERT, the fire front now extends over more than 30 kilometres.

A total of 670 firefighters and 183 vehicles have been deployed, and 32 aircraft are flying over the area, Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said.

“We are all working around the clock,” Marinos Peristeropoulos, a firefighter deployed to Grammatiko, one of the most difficult fire sites, told AFP. “The fire spread very quickly because of the strong wind.”

In the Greek capital, the Union of Pulmonologists warned against exercising outdoors, and that pregnant women and the frail should limit their trips outdoors. The fires led Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to cut short his vacation.

Burnt olive trees

Extreme weather conditions are expected to be difficult throughout the week.

Greece is particularly vulnerable to wildfires after a very dry winter. June and July were the hottest months since records began in 1960.

Scientists warn that fossil fuel emissions are worsening the duration, frequency and intensity of heatwaves around the world.

Other parts of Europe are also battling high temperatures: some French regions exceeded 40°C on Sunday. In Rome, temperatures are expected to reach 38°C on Monday and remain around 36°C this week.