Dozens of planes and helicopters in action: forest fires broke out in Greece

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After a relatively rainy and cool spring, these are the first major vegetation fires in Greece this year.

Civil protection ordered the evacuation of numerous residents, summer camps for children in several villages in eastern Athens and near the seaside town of Loutraki in the west of the capital were hit. Houses burned down there too, state television showed.

“We are fighting about 20 wildfires and forest fires that also threaten residential areas,” a spokesperson for the fire service said on state radio on Monday. Dozens of planes and helicopters are in use. Due to the heavy smoke development, the Patras-Athens highway near the city of Loutraki was temporarily closed.

Civil protection had already warned at the weekend: after a few days with temperatures above 40 degrees and a longer dry period, strong winds picked up on Monday. The risk of fire is high – and because of the high winds, so is the potentially rapid spread of fires.

On Monday it was largely bearable around 35 degrees nationwide, but before that the thermometers had indicated 44 degrees over the weekend in Crete and Athens, among others. The next heat is just around the corner, meteorologists said. Temperatures will rise again from Wednesday and it will be above 40 degrees in many places next weekend. Temperatures are expected to reach 44 degrees in the metropolis of Athens, among others.

(SDA)

Source: Blick