Fire Service battles 53 new wildfires

Most of the 53 new wildfires that broke out in the country in the last 24 hours were “dealt with immediately, in their initial stages,” the Fire Service has said in its daily bulletin.

“Powerful ground and air forces … are operating at the fire fronts, the most important of which are developing in Rhodes and Corfu,” it said.

With reference to the fire in Rhodes, the flare-ups that occurred mainly in the southeastern side of the island lead to evacuation messages being issued to the settlements of Vati, Plimmyri and Lachania and Gennadi.

In Corfu, the flare-ups were in the wider northeastern area of the island, where blazes threatened the settlements of Loutses, Imerolia, Syki as well as Apraos, which also necessitated their evacuation.

There were also flare-ups in southern Evia and the Dervenaki in Achaia.