Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
27-07-2025
DROSOPIGI ATHENS: Firefighters were battling wildfires near Athens and across Greece on Saturday as the Mediterranean country sweltered under the third heatwave of the summer, with some villages and settlements being evacuated.
Explosions could be heard as huge clouds of smoke covered Drosopigi village 25 km north of Athens, where factories with flammable material are located. Helicopters dropped water and 65 firefighters battled the flames, assisted by 26 vehicles and two aircraft.
Two houses caught fire, according to state ERT television, while residents of nearby village Krioneri were instructed by authorities to leave towards Athens.
Temperatures in Greece were forecast to reach up to 44 degrees Celsius on Saturday, the Greek weather service said.
On the island of Evia, 115 firefighters and 24 vehicles were deployed to put out fires, assisted by six aircraft and seven helicopters, but strong winds were hampering their efforts. Residents of the island’s Triada area were told to be ready in case they needed to leave.
The fire on Evia is the latest in a series of bushfires stoked by strong winds and dry conditions this month.
On the island of Kythera, authorities evacuated the villages of Aroniadika, Pitsinades and Aryoi. In the area of Messinia, west of Athens, residents of the Kryoneri and Sellas villages were also told to leave.
These sites were on a list of Greek regions on high alert for wildfires due to record-breaking temperatures and strong winds due on Saturday.
Tourism is a key earner in Greece, and the fires have hit since the start of the peak summer holiday season early in July.
Greece and other Mediterranean countries are in an area dubbed “a wildfire hotspot” by scientists, with blazes common during hot and dry summers. These have become more destructive in recent years due to a fast-changing climate, prompting calls for a new approach.
Greece and the wider Balkans sweltered under the third heatwave of the summer on Tuesday, with laborers barred from work, tourists kept away from the ruins and firefighters battling blazes scattered across the arid countryside.
Couriers, food delivery riders and builders in and around Athens and other regions were ordered to pause work from midday until 5 p.m., as the temperature was expected to climb as high as 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 F), the labor ministry said.
In the Feneo area in Corinth in southern Greece, 185 firefighters with 50 vehicles were combating a strong forest fire, helped by 15 planes and 11 helicopters.
Two villages there were evacuated out of precaution as the fire raged. The governor of the surrounding Peloponnese region, Dimitris Ptochos, said the situation was difficult, local media reported.
Greece has long been known for the hot, sunny summers that attract tens of millions of tourists every year but climate change has led to longer and more severe heatwaves, as well as destructive floods and wildfires.
Authorities said they would shut the ancient Acropolis ruins, Greece’s most-visited tourist site atop a rocky hill above Athens, for five hours from midday on Tuesday and Wednesday. Matthew Enos, an 18-year-old visitor from New Orleans, said he had not been prepared for such a heatwave when he arrived in the capital.
“It’s been a little tough so far. Not the greatest feeling ever,” he said. “So I’ve just been adapting by drinking lots and lots of water.”
Tourists sought out air-conditioned restaurants and stores in Athens, one of the most densely populated capitals in Europe, which bakes on a plain flanked by mountains. (Int’l News Desk)
