A forest fire blown by strong winds destroyed vegetation in a southern suburb of Athens on Saturday, forcing many residents to evacuate, firefighters said.
Greece’s civil protection has called via text messages the residents of Ano Voula and the surrounding area to leave their homes, the fire has reached a residential area.
The fire, which was not controlled at this stage, caused the evacuation of four other areas on Saturday afternoon, the wind changed direction and pushed the fire towards Vari, explained Grigoris Konstantelos, explained the mayor of Voula, on the Skai television channel.
Six water bomber planes, three helicopters and a municipal tank truck supported several dozen firefighters who intervened along with 20 fire engines.
The ANT1 television channel showed police urging people to leave.
The media reported power outages in the area where the fire damaged roofs, gardens and vehicles. Skai showed footage of a house burning with fire licking inside.
When questioned by Open TV, Mr. Kostantelos said about twenty houses were damaged.
The situation was very difficult and the wind was not helpingunderlined Giannis Konstantatos, the mayor of Ellinikon-Argiroupoli, a nearby locality.
The atmosphere suffocates, we have difficulty breathinghe told the Athens News Agency.
Giorgos Papanikolaou, the mayor of Glyfada, where the fire broke out, said without giving further details, that a high-voltage power station caused the disaster, the agency added.
Later in the afternoon, another fire broke out near Athens, in Kouvaras, but no residential areas were threatened.
Last summer, the worst heat wave in Greece in decades – blamed by climate change authorities – caused a fire that destroyed more than 100,000 hectares of forest and farmland, the worst fire damage since 2007.
More than 200 firefighters and equipment provided by other European Union (EU) countries will soon be deployed in Greece to help fight these wildfires.
Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and Norway will participate in this operation, coordinated by the Civil Protection Mechanism ofEUannounced by the European Commission on Thursday.
Source: Radio-Canada
