West Attica wildfire to be contained by nightfall, Fire Service chief says
The fire that broke out Wednesday night at the regional unit of Corinth and expanded over into western Attica, west of the capital Athens, will be contained by nightfall Friday, Stephanos Kolokouris, Chief of Greece’s Fire Service, said Friday.
Kolokouris said that, besides the high winds that blew all day Thursday, the firefighters were impeded by the absence of buffer zones in the area.
The fire began by human error, as someone try to burn dry cu branches and undergrowth, a government official revealed Thursday.
As of Friday morning, the fire had burned through more that 4,000 hectares of forest land, Deputy Minister in charge of Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias told reporters.
More than 450 firefighters and 123 fire engines, including the service’s elite Disaster Mitigation Unit, 18 airplanes, one Chinook helicopter and 2 operation command helicopters, as well as army units and volunteer firefighters, are trying to put out the fire.
