Athens : Several firefighting planes and helicopters fought until nightfall to try and contain a forest fire that reached the northern suburbs of Athens on Tuesday.
“Our primary goal is to save human lives,” Greek Civil Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis said on state television after an emergency meeting.
The blaze was spreading from one house to the next in the suburbs of Varybobi and Acharnes. Greek state television broadcast footage of burning houses.
“Leave your homes immediately,” the mayor of Acharnes, Spyros Vrettos, said on state television. Residents of the region also received a warning by text message from the Civil Defence. Thick clouds of smoke were visible from all over Athens, according to Deutsche press agency (dpa).
Residents of the affected neighborhoods left their homes in panic. “Behind us is hell,” one resident shouted from his car to reporters on the scene.
The state offered hotel rooms for the coming nights to the people who had to flee due to the fire.
Fires also broke out on the island of Euboea, on Peloponnese Peninsula and on the islands of Kos and Rhodes, popular among holidaymakers.
A total of 40 fires were raging across the country on Tuesday evening, a Civil Defence spokesman said. No information was available about casualties.
Several confused horses could be seen running through the streets of Varybobi on Tuesday afternoon after the owners of a riding club, having seen the fast-approaching blaze, turned the animals loose to save their lives.
The fire was spreading rapidly from the nearby forests to inhabited areas, the region’s governor Giorgos Patoulis announced, calling on all people to leave the area immediately.
Meteorologists have for days been warning that fires of this magnitude could break out, as the country remains in the grip of a heatwave that is not expected to let up all week, with temperatures climbing above 40 degrees Celsius.
Authorities have warned the public that the risk of fire will remain very high even after the end of the heatwave, mainly due to the country’s ongoing drought, and the forecast high winds.
