Rising temperatures are leading to longer wildfire seasons.
Penteli, Greece:
Thousands of people fled their homes on the outskirts of Athens on Monday, including in the historic city of Marathon, as strong winds fanned a wall of flames near the Greek capital.
A 30-kilometer (20-mile) long fire front, more than 25 meters (80 feet) high in some spots, was moving toward Athens, public broadcaster ERT reported.
Nearly 700 firefighters and more than 30 aircraft battled the flames that advanced into the city’s suburbs, near Mount Pentelikon.
Authorities opened the Olympic stadium in northern Athens and other stadiums to house the fugitives. Three major hospitals have been placed on hold.
One firefighter suffered serious burns, another was hospitalized with respiratory problems and 13 other people were treated for milder respiratory problems, fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said.
Halandri became the last suburban municipality to order the partial evacuation of areas threatened by the flames.
“Due to the direction of the wind, we decided on a preventive evacuation,” Mayor Simos Roussos told ERT. “The fire is very close.”
Television footage showed flames burning homes in Nea Penteli, a leafy Athens suburb that also urged residents to move.
Several smaller communities and towns, including Marathon, which gave its name to the long-distance Olympic race, began evacuating on Sunday.
“We are facing a biblical catastrophe,” said Marathon Mayor Stergios Tsirkas. “Our whole city is on fire,” he told the Skai television channel.
Smoke swept through central Athens as thick gray clouds engulfed Mount Pentelikon, which towers over the capital and is known for producing the marble used in the Acropolis and other ancient buildings.
“Civil protection forces fought hard throughout the night, but despite superhuman efforts, the fire progressed quickly,” Vathrakogiannis said.
Wind reignited fires in 40 different locations on Monday, he said.
A children’s hospital and a military medical center in Penteli were evacuated at dawn, Vathrakogiannis said.
The destruction revived memories of the Mati disaster, the coastal area near Marathon where 104 people died in July 2018, in a tragedy later blamed on delays and errors in evacuation.
Greece’s summer wildfire season this year saw dozens of daily fires after the Mediterranean country recorded its hottest winter and hottest June and July since reliable data collection began in 1960.
Temperatures around Athens are expected to peak at 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, with wind gusts of up to 50 kilometers (31 miles) per hour.
– ‘Engulfed in flames’ –
“Forest fire near you. Follow instructions from authorities,” said SMS messages sent to people in the Attica region, indicating in which direction to flee.
Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias issued a warning on Saturday that half of the country faces a high risk of fires due to high temperatures, strong winds and dry conditions.
On Monday, he said a fire that broke out on Sunday near the city of Varnavas had spread despite a water bomber plane hitting the area in just five minutes.
“We’re working 24-hour shifts, all of us,” said firefighter Marinos Peristeropoulos.
“The fire spread very quickly because of the strong wind,” he told AFP near one of the hotspots in Grammatiko.
Scientists say human-induced fossil fuel emissions are worsening the duration, frequency and intensity of heat waves around the world.
Rising temperatures are leading to longer wildfire seasons and increasing the area burned by flames, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Other parts of Europe are also facing high temperatures.
Temperatures in parts of France rose above 40 Celsius on Sunday. In Rome, temperatures were expected to reach 38 degrees Celsius on Monday and remain around 36 degrees Celsius this week.
In the Netherlands, temperatures between 32 and 35 degrees Celsius are expected.
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