Drop in winds offers hope as Greek firefighters battle Athens wildfire

A major wildfire raged across the northern suburbs of Athens on Monday, leaving at least one person dead and triggering multiple evacuations as swirling winds hampered the efforts of hundreds of firefighters and dozens of water-dropping planes.

The fire department said shortly after midnight that firefighters found a body in a burnt building in the suburb of Vrilissia, but was unable to immediately provide further details

The blaze started on Sunday near Lake Marathon, about 35 kilometres (22 miles) north east of Athens, coursed across Mount Pendeli and reached the capital’s northern suburbs. It burnt several homes and businesses in the city suburbs and in communities near the lake.

Greece was on high alert but by late Monday evening, a drop in winds offered hope and officials reported progress against the massive, fast-moving blaze that spawned flames over 25 meters (80 feet) high.

Fire Department spokesperson Colonel Vassileios Vathrakogiannis said firefighters were no longer battling a single front but “many active localised blazes”, mostly around Marathon and Pendeli.

The Marathon area was the site of a famous battle between Greeks and Persians in 490 BC and hosts a museum and archaeological site, but there were no immediate reports of damage from the blaze to either.

Greek firefighters were to be boosted by forces from other countries as early as Tuesday, after Athens sought international assistance, activating Europe’s mutual civil protection mechanism.

A blanket of smoke and ash shrouded central Athens while power cuts hit parts of the Greek capital and affected traffic lights at major central junctions.

Authorities said at least 18 people were injured, mostly due to smoke inhalation as the blaze reached outlying sections of a suburb. Greece’s National Observatory said that satellite images show the blaze has affected about 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres).

France would provide a helicopter and 200 firefighters with 28 fire trucks, Italy two water-dropping planes and the Czech Republic 75 firefighters and 25 vehicles, officials said, while Serbia and Romania were also readying aid. Neighbouring Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said it would dispatch two firefighting planes and a helicopter, while Spain was also finalising reinforcements to send to Greece.

The wildfire was racing through pine forests left tinder-dry by repeated heatwaves this summer.

June and July of this year were the hottest months ever recorded in Greece, which also recorded its warmest winter ever.

Authorities were faced with “an exceptionally dangerous fire, which we have been fighting for more than 20 hours under dramatic circumstances”, climate crisis and civil protection minister Vassilis Kikilias said mid-morning on Monday.

The fire was burning mainly on two separate fronts, with some parts in particularly difficult-to-reach areas on a mountain north east of Athens, Mr Kikilias said.

The fire department said 685 firefighters, backed by 27 teams specially trained to tackle wildfires and including more than 80 armed forces personnel, were battling the flames.

More than 190 vehicles were deployed, while 17 water-dropping planes and 16 helicopters were providing aerial support.

A children’s hospital and a military hospital, two monasteries and a children’s home were evacuated, while one more hospital was to be evacuated on Monday afternoon.

More than two dozen emergency push alerts were sent to mobile phones in the area warning people to flee, while homes in several areas were burned, although the exact number was not immediately clear.

“The wind would go in one direction and then in the other. The smoke was suffocating. You couldn’t see. Your eyes teared up. You couldn’t breathe. You couldn’t see the house,” said Spyros Gorilas, a resident of the area of Dioni who hosed down his house with water to save it from the flames.

“Even the helicopter that dropped water, you couldn’t see it. You could only hear it. Nothing else.”

Evacuation orders were issued throughout the day for yet more Athens suburbs as strong winds continued unabated.

Fire department spokesperson Colonel Vassileios Vathrakogiannis said authorities had been faced with more than 40 flare-ups of the blaze since the early hours of Monday in areas where the flames had somewhat abated.

Three Athens hospitals were on heightened alert, while paramedics and ambulances treated two firefighters — one for light burns and the other for breathing problems – and 13 civilians for breathing problems, Col Vathrakogiannis said.

The Athens Medical Association urged residents near affected areas to exercise caution, especially those with chronic conditions, the elderly, pregnant women, young children, and those with respiratory and heart problems.

Greece’s coast guard ordered all ferries going to and from the nearby port of Rafina, which serves mainly the Cycladic islands and Crete, to be diverted to the port of Lavrion due to the fire.

Authorities in nearby suburbs opened at least one sports hall and were providing rooms in hotels for evacuees, while yet more suburbs were put on standby for potential evacuation.

The police department said 380 police officers with 77 vehicles, 36 motorcycles, three buses and four vans were assisting in the evacuations, and by mid-morning had helped move more than 250 people away from the path of the flames.

It posted a video on its social media channels showing police officers carrying elderly people in their arms out of houses and to waiting vehicles, against a backdrop of a night sky turned red from the flames and smoke.

The fire was burning in a wide arc on the capital’s northeastern fringes, sending a blanket of smoke over central Athens on Sunday, darkening the sky.

It began on Sunday afternoon about 35 kilometres (22 miles) from Athens and was fanned by strong winds that quickly drove it out of control.

Meteorologists and government officials have warned of the heightened danger of wildfires because of weather conditions from Sunday until Thursday, with half of the country placed under a “red alert” for wildfire hazard.

The fire department appealed to residents to follow evacuation orders issued by civil protection, with authorities noting that some people who had refused to leave their homes later became trapped and required rescuing, endangering the lives of firefighters.

Wildfires are frequent in Greece during its hot, dry summers, but authorities have said climate change is fuelling bigger and more frequent blazes.

In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee in their cars.

More than 100 people died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.

Last year, wildfires in Greece killed more than 20 people, including 18 migrants who became trapped by the flames as they trekked through a forest in northeastern Greece and were caught by a massive fire that burned for more than two weeks.