[ad_1]
According to public broadcaster ERT, a 30-kilometre-long fire front was moving towards Athens, with flames reaching a height of more than 25m in some places.
Nearly 700 firefighters and more than 30 aircraft are battling the blaze, which is approaching the city’s Pentelicon Hill area.
Officials opened the Olympic Stadium in northern Athens and other stadiums to those fleeing. Large regional hospitals have declared themselves ready.
One firefighter suffered severe burns, another was hospitalized with breathing difficulties and 13 others were treated for minor breathing problems, said Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, a fire department spokesman.
Athens ordered more evacuations on Monday after a massive wildfire broke out near the outskirts of the Greek capital.
Simos Roussos, mayor of Chalandris, northeast of Athens, told state television he had ordered the evacuation of residents of the neighborhood closest to the fire because, he said, the flames were so close.
Television reports showed a fire breaking out between houses in the Athens suburb of Nea Pentele. Residents of the suburb were also ordered to evacuate.
Several smaller cities and communities, including Marathon, began evacuations on Sunday.
“We are facing a catastrophe of biblical proportions,” Marathon Mayor Stergios Tsirkas told Skai TV.
“The Civil Protection Forces fought hard all night, but despite superhuman efforts, the fire spread rapidly,” said V. Vatrakojanis.
He said high winds reignited fires in 40 different locations on Monday.
According to V. Vatrakojanis, two hospitals in Nea Pentele – a children’s hospital and a military hospital – were evacuated at dawn.
Temperatures in the Athens area are expected to reach 39 degrees Celsius on Monday, with gusts reaching 14 meters per second.
Text messages have been sent to people in the Attica region with instructions for evacuating from the fire.
As forest fires are currently raging in the northeastern suburbs of Athens, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises Lithuanians in the Attica region to remain vigilant and stay in touch with hotels and travel organizers.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cut short his vacation and returned to Athens on Sunday evening to deal with the crisis.
The fires have been fueled by a scorching summer in the Mediterranean region, and on Saturday Greece’s Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias, warned that half the country could be at high risk of fires due to high temperatures, gusty winds and drought.
Greece is extremely vulnerable to summer fires; fires occur every day at this time of year.
After experiencing its warmest winter, Greece also recorded its hottest June and July since reliable data began to be collected in 1960.
The burning of fossil fuels is making heatwaves around the world longer, more frequent and more intense, scientists say.
Other parts of Europe are also experiencing high temperatures. On Sunday, the temperature rose to over 40 degrees Celsius somewhere in France. Rome is expected to reach 38 degrees on Monday, and the Netherlands is expected to have a temperature of 32-35 degrees.
[ad_2]
Source link
