Anika Begay
By Angelos Tsatsis and Karolina Tagaris
VARNAVAS, Greece/ATHENS (Reuters) – Residents fled their homes on Sunday as a fast-moving fire outside Athens, fueled by heat and wind, burned trees, houses and cars and sent clouds of smoke across the Greek capital.
More than 400 firefighters, supported by 16 water planes and 13 helicopters, fought the blaze which broke out at 15:00 (midday GMT) and quickly reached the village of Varnavas, 35 km (20 miles) north of Athens.
As night fell, firefighting planes ceased operations until morning. Flames painted the sky orange.
“The situation remains dangerous as the fire is spreading between homes,” said fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis.
He said the fire spread quickly, “like lightning,” due to gale-force winds. Flames up to 25 meters high engulfed trees and shrubs.
Varnavas is a sparsely populated area, with about 1,800 residents, according to the latest census.
“The village was surrounded in an instant, in an instant. There is a lot of wind,” resident Katerina Fylaktou told Reuters. “It started from one point and suddenly the whole village was surrounded,” she said.
Hundreds of forest fires have broken out in Greece since May, with scientists attributing their frequency and intensity to increasingly warm and dry weather conditions due to climate change.
After the warmest winter on record and long periods of little or no rainfall, Greece also recorded its warmest June and July and is forecast to have its warmest summer on record.
“We expect a very difficult week,” said Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the Athens Observatory. “If the Varnavas fire is not put out overnight, we will have a problem tomorrow,” he said.
This summer, fires have also broken out in other parts of Europe, due to extreme heat, such as in Spain and the Balkans.
‘DANGEROUS CONDITIONS’
Authorities issued evacuation notices for nine areas near Varnavas. By evening, thick brown smoke was hanging over much of Athens and had reached the island of Aegina to the south.
Another fire in a forest area near the town of Megara, west of Athens, was put out on Sunday afternoon, firefighters said.
Several other regions in Greece were placed on high alert on Sunday and Monday due to the risk of fires.
On Saturday, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said he had called for emergency measures involving the army, police and volunteers to tackle forest fires until August 15.
“There will be extremely high temperatures and dangerous weather conditions,” he said.
“Half of Greece will be in the red.”
In April, a European Commission report said that the 2023 forest fire season in Europe was among the worst this century.
