Wildfires in Turkey burn for 11 days now turns to Greece amid the worst heatwave in 30 years, temperatures have spiked to 45C (113F). Hundreds evacuated by ferry from the island of Evia east of the capital on the fifth day of wildfires.
On Saturday, forest fires burned for the fifth day in Greece. The flames swept through a residential city on the outskirts of Athens overnight. Hundreds of people were evacuated by ferry from the island of Evia in the east of the capital.
Since Thursday night, a fire on Parnitha Hill in the Athens suburbs has forced thousands of people to evacuate, and emergency services have faced high winds and high temperatures while trying to control its spread.
In Greece’s worst heat wave in more than 30 years, wildfires broke out in many parts of the country, destroying tens of thousands of acres of forests, destroying homes and businesses, and killing animals.
Temperatures in Greece exceeded 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for the entire week.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis delivered a speech after visiting Athens’ main fire station on Saturday, calling it a “nightmare summer” and adding that the government’s first priority is to “protect human life first.”
The government plans to compensate people affected by the fire and designate the burned lands as reforestation areas, he said.
More than 700 firefighters, including reinforcements from Cyprus, France and Israel, have been deployed to the fire north of Athens, assisted by the army and seaplanes.
Overnight, strong winds drove the fire into the city of Thrakomakedones, where it burned down houses. Residents were ordered to evacuate and no casualties were reported.
“[This] is really bad,” said Thanasis Kaloudis, a city resident. “All of Greece was burned down.”
The fire on Evia, the second largest island in Greece, spread from one end of the Euboea Bay to the other, facing the Aegean Sea. Hundreds of 4,444 people, including many elderly residents, were evacuated by ferry from the town of Linney in Evia on Friday night, when flames reached the shoreline and the sky turned apocalyptic red.
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