The area around Athens has been burning since Sunday afternoon. As reported by Greek CNNflames in southeastern Attica have spiraled out of control. More towns are being evacuated, including suburbs of the Greek capital. Apartments and the residents of Nea Pendeli, Dionisos, Palai, Chalandri and Vrilisia were ordered to leave their homes. Despite this, some people refuse to leave their homes, trying to save them.
In Nea Pendeli a school is burning, and in Melissa the Amalia Fleming hospital was evacuated as a precaution. BBC adds, that further explosions occur due to car explosions and home fuel tanks.
Fires in Greece are out of control, Athens suburb evacuated
685 firefighters are fighting the fires in Greece. 190 vehicles have been deployed, 17 airplanes water-dropping vehicles and 16 helicopters. The services are hampered in their work by thick smoke that has covered the sky over Athens. Combined with high temperatures, the smoke makes breathing difficult, and problems also generate power outages. The flames reach up to 25 meters high. – The residents of northeastern Attica are being tested by an extremely dangerous fire, which we have been fighting for over 20 hours in dramatic conditions due to strong winds and prolonged drought, but also because of the very uneven and inaccessible terrain in the dense, unburned forest – said the Greek Minister for the Climate Crisis and Civil Defense, Vasilis Kikilias.
– A forest fire about 40 kilometers north-east of Athens is being fanned by gusty winds,” the minister said. The minister added that the wind speed is still high today – it is 7 degrees on the Beaufort scale and will remain very strong for the next few hours. During the night, police rescued 180 people from areas threatened by fire.
Greece asks for help. Poles offered 40 firefighters
Greek authorities officially requested assistance from firefighters from Croatia and Spain. At around 3:00 p.m., Brigadier Karol Kierzkowski, spokesman for the Chief Commander of the State Fire Service, reported on the X portal that “In connection with the forest fires, Greece, through the EU Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC), has issued a request for rescue assistance in the form of firefighting planes and helicopters and modules for extinguishing forest fires. Polish firefighters sent an offer of rescue assistance in the form of a module for extinguishing forest fires without the use of fire trucks, consisting of 40 firefighters with five tons of rescue equipment. The final decision on accepting the rescue offer will be made by the Greek government through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.”
Due to the speed of the fire and the speed of action, help is needed, preferably from the countries directly neighboring Greece. Polish firefighters are monitoring the situation, they are in contact with the Department of Civil Protection of the European Union.
Weather and climate
Half of Greece is under a “red alert” until Thursday, warning of an increased risk of fires, said Vassilis Kikilias, Minister for the Climate Crisis and Civil Protection.
This is not the first fire this season in Greece. There have been hundreds of them since May (40 since Saturday alone!), on the mainland and on the islands. The country is exceptionally dry. The winter was the warmest on record, as were the last two full months – June and February. The entire summer could be record-breaking in this respect. Moreover, a heat wave is sweeping across the entire Mediterranean region, including exceptionally hot Spain.
According to experts, the frequency and intensity of extreme events are increasing phenomena weather events, as well as drought- and heat-induced wildfires, can be linked to climate change. The warmer the climate, the more severe heat waves become. The heatwave in Mexico that killed at least 100 people this year was made much more likely by global warming, according to the international group World Weather Attribution, which studies the links between extreme weather and climate change.