Big fire breaks out near popular west Attica seaside resort
A large fire has broken out in forestland lying between the popular seaside resort of Porto Germeno on the west Attica coast and the village of Vilia in the foothills of Mount Kythairon to its east.
The Fire Service has dispatched a large force of 135 firefighters and 35 trucks, five ground teams and 10 water-dumping aircraft to contain the blaze, which is being fanned by strong winds, before it reaches homes and businesses in the area. Greek firefighters are being assisted by a team of Romanian colleagues dispatched to Greece as part of a new European Union civil protection strategy.
People in Vilia have also been sent an SMS message via the 112 civil protection hotline instructing them to make their way to the Psatha beach.
“The winds are, unfortunately, very strong, and this makes the situation that much harder. The fire is uncontrollable right now and is heading to the area of Fillipi in Vilia. There are a lot of water-dumping aircraft, but the fire is spreading very rapidly,” the head of the Vilia community, Konstantinos Makrynoris, told Kathimerini.gr.
