A major forest fire has erupted in an area close to Athens, as Greece expects a very challenging season in terms of wildfires. The country experiences numerous fires annually, but the situation may worsen this year after experiencing the warmest winter in its history and an intense early heatwave with temperatures reaching 44 degrees Celsius.
The fire began on Sunday in the Keratea area, about 20 kilometers south of the Greek capital, in a region with dense woods. By afternoon, the fire was nearing homes, as reported by the Greek news agency, while strong winds threatened to spread it further. Approximately sixty firefighters and 17 vehicles, along with eight planes and two helicopters, were deployed to try to contain the flames.
Around 12:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. GMT), authorities established an alert system, urging residents in the areas of Markati, Plaka, and Panorama to evacuate their homes and head towards Lavrio. On Saturday, a large fire that had erupted in the same area was brought under control. Another fire that broke out on Saturday on the island of Serifos was extinguished on Sunday morning but caused significant damage.
Konstantinos Riventis, the mayor of Serifos, told a local channel, "The entire southwest of Serifos burned, and the flames stopped when they reached the sea." For Sunday, the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection had predicted that the fire risk would be extremely high in the Attica region, the southern Peloponnese Peninsula, the island of Crete, and the northern and southern parts of the Aegean Sea and central Greece.
Extinguishing a fire on Mount Parnitha near Athens took hours on Saturday, with reinforcements from various Greek regions and volunteer firefighters participating in controlling the disaster. More than forty wildfires broke out across Greece on Saturday, with wind speeds occasionally exceeding 100 kilometers per hour, according to fire services.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in his weekly Facebook post on Sunday, called on citizens to prepare for a difficult season. He wrote, "Difficult times await us. Our efforts continue with the help of new tools to build a new culture of prevention and responsibility." He confirmed that "the fire in Parnitha was very severe, but fortunately, it was detected immediately thanks to the monitoring system established this year for forests and mountainous areas in Attica."
