Hundreds flee homes as heatwave fuels Greek wildfire

Hundreds of residents living near a forest area north of Athens fled their homes Tuesday as a wildfire reached residential areas as Greece grappled with its worst heatwave in decades.

The blaze sent smoke over the capital and prompted multiple evacuations near Tatoi, 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) north of Athens. Many residents left their homes in cars and on motorcycles and headed toward the capital as smoke blanketed residential areas.

“It is a large fire and it will take a lot of work to get this under control,” greater Athens regional governor George Patoulis told state-run ERT television.

“People in the area should be on stand-by. We are asking members of the public in the fire-affected areas to keep the windows of their homes closed because the smoke is very dense.”

As the heat wave scorching the eastern Mediterranean intensified, temperatures reached 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit) in parts of the Greek capital. The extreme weather has fueled deadly wildfires in Turkey and blazes in Greece, Albania, Italy and across the region.

The fires prompted Greek basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo to cancel celebrations planned in Athens for the recent NBA championship he won with the Milwaukee Bucks.

“We hope there are no victims from these fires, and of course we will postpones today’s celebration,” Antetokounmpo wrote in a tweet.

Earlier, authorities closed the Acropolis and other ancient sites during afternoon hours. The site, which is normally open in the summer from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., will have reduced hours through Friday, closing between midday and 5 p.m.

The extreme heat, described by authorities as the worst in Greece since 1987, has strained the national power supply and fueled the wildfires.

Five water-dropping planes and five helicopters were involved in the firefighting effort near Athens, including a Beriev Be-200 amphibious aircraft leased from Russia. The blaze damaged electricity pylons, adding further strain on the electricity network already under pressure due to widespread use of air-conditioning.

The Greek Fire Service maintained an alert for most of the country Tuesday and Wednesday, while public and some private services shifted operating hours to allow for afternoon closures.

Several villages were also evacuated Tuesday in coastal areas of the southern Peloponnese region. [AP]