Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has cut short his vacation and returned to Athens as a wildfire driven by gale-force winds heads toward the Greek capital of Athens.
Eleven towns and villages north of Athens have been evacuated as the flames have consumed thousands of trees and dozens of houses and cars.
The prime minister cut short his break on the island of Crete to return to Athens to oversee the government’s response to the blaze.
Having gone for months with little rain, most of Greece’s forests are tinder-dry and the country is forecast to have its hottest summer on record.
Temperatures of around 104 degrees F are predicted this week, and Greece’s climate crisis and civil protection minister, Vassilis Kikilias, said on Aug. 10, “Half of Greece will be in the red.”
The latest wildfire broke out on Aug. 11 near Varnavas, 20 miles north of Athens.
Fire Spread ‘Like Lightning’
Fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said the blaze spread “like lightning” because of the winds, with flames 80 feet high.“Unfortunately, their intensity is expected to increase in the coming hours, and in any case, citizens of the areas where the fire is developing must follow the directions of authorities,” he said.
Kikilias said it was “an exceptionally dangerous fire, which we have been fighting for more than 20 hours under dramatic circumstances.”
By the morning of Aug. 12, the fire had spread southward and was threatening the village of Grammatiko, the ancient town of Marathon, and the seaside resort of Nea Makri.
Smoke also is rising from the slopes of Mount Penteli, just north of Athens.
Strong winds were constantly changing the flames’ direction.
Three hospitals have been evacuated in Penteli, a community on the outskirts of Athens. Flames have also been seen near the suburb of Dionysos, 14 miles from downtown Athens.
Police Warn Residents Not to Return
“For your safety and to facilitate the work of the fire brigade, do not attempt to return to areas that have already burned,” police wrote.The fire department has urged people to follow evacuation orders and said those who refuse to leave their homes risk becoming trapped.
“The view from our hotel balcony in Athens with the Acropolis in view and the smoke hanging heavy,” British journalist Lorraine Herbison Hollinshead, who is vacationing in Athens, posted a video and said on X. “The wildfires are only about 30 km [18 miles] away.
“We received three emergency alerts to our mobiles between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.,” she added.
In September, Mitsotakis gave a keynote speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair, where he said he would recruit more firefighters and forestry workers and increase taxes for tourists in Greece to pay for a 600 million euro ($655 million) climate change fund.
Greece isn’t the only country grappling with wildfires this year.
Ronnie Dean Stout II, 42, from Chico, California, has been charged with felony arson after allegedly triggering the huge blaze by setting fire to a car.
