Firefighters battle 54 blazes across Greece, protecting residential areas

Firefighters were sent to douse a total of 54 blazes in different parts of the country on Friday as consistently high temperatures and moderate winds tested their resources.

According to the fire service, none of the blazes had posed a threat to residential areas by mid-afternoon and water-dropping aircraft had not been required to aid efforts on the ground.

A large fire that broke out on the island of Kythira in the Peloponnese last week and has been rekindling on and off since then was under control on Friday but firefighters remained on standby.

Other blazes on Zakynthos and in Gortynia, Florina and Farsala were under control, according to the fire service, as was a fire in Kaisariani.