Firefighters are battling several large uncontrolled wildfires around the country, the largest of which are in the northern suburbs to Athens, on Evia, and in the Peloponnese.

Unnecessary movement is discouraged and heavy-duty face masks are recommended when venturing outside in the affected areas. Movement in forested areas has been forbidden all over the country.

“I ask you to limit your movements. If you receive a message to evacuate your area, I ask you to comply,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pleaded to the public at noon on Friday.

Help has arrived or is arriving from several countries. Romania is sending 112 firefighters and 23 trucks that are expected to arrive over the next couple of days, along with an unspecified number of helicopters coming in from Switzerland to bolster aerial crews water-bombing multiple fire fronts raging across the country and dousing potential new hotspots, while France on Thursday dispatched 82 firefighters and two water-dumping airplanes, adding to another four sent from Sweden and Cyprus, with the latter also flying in a force of 40 firefighters. Israel has also extended a helping hand, offering to send firefighters and equipment.

Attica

Fires in northern Athens are currently not under control.

Thousands of people were roused from their beds and evacuated from their homes overnight as flareups of Tuesday’s fire in Varybobi spread to Kryoneri, Drosopigi and Ippokrateios Politeia, jumped the Athens-Lamia national highway at Afidnes and tore into Agios Stefanos, Polydendri, Kapandriti, Pefkofyto and other leafy suburbs in the foothills of Mount Parnitha.

Strengthening winds on Friday were stoking the large-scale wildfire. According to reports, the fire is threatening the facilities of the Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE) at Agios Stefanos which, if hit, may cause widespread blackouts in the Greek capital.

The biggest front, meanwhile, is in the area of Afidnes, causing the closure of a section of the Athens-Lamia national highway. Trucks are banned from using the highway until further notice, while cars heading north are being rerouted to secondary roads.

At 11:00, moreover, the civil protection authority sent SMS messages to thousands of mobile phone users and police cars issued warnings through bullhorns for the evacuation of Kapandriti and Polydendri, directing residents to the coasts of Varnava and Nea Makri.

Some 2,000 migrants and refugees have already been evacuated from the Ritsona camp in northern Athens to another facility in Malakasa, and pensioners were being evacuated from retirement homes in Aghios Stefanos.

There has been no loss of life, however, and just a few dozen hospitalizations, mainly of firefighters who have sustained minor burns but also residents suffering from smoke inhalation.

Evia

More than 600 people had to run to the coast and be evacuated by sea in northern Evia on Thursday night as a raging wildfire blocked the road out of the village of Agia Anna, trapping residents and holidaymakers.

Similarly to the blaze in northern Athens, the fire in Evia that started on Tuesday north of the seaside village of Limni has split up into multiple fronts and spread across a large area in the northern part of the island.

Fires have through villages like Kechries, Rovies and Limni to the east, and Agia Anna, Kryoneritis, Milies and Vassilika to the west.

Peloponnese

Two new fires broke out in the region of Fokida, below Mount Parnasos, on Friday. Authorities say a large fire that started in Elea on Thursday night damaged houses there before heading to Kallithea and down toward the northern coast of the Gulf of Corinth, where it is now close to the popular seaside resort of Eratini and to Panormo.

Another fire is under way in east Mani, on the middle leg of the Peloponnese peninsula, and is thought to be a flareup of a blaze that broke out on Tuesday in Kastanies.

The fire service has evacuated several villages in the hinterland and is now cautioning residents in communities close to the port of Gytheio.

“It’s a desperate situation. The fire goes where it wants, when it wants, and nobody can stop it,” the mayor of Dorida, Giorgos Kapentzonis, told the state-run Athens Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) on Friday, calling on the government to send help. “The situation remains extremely difficult… may I say critical,” said the deputy governor of the Laconia region, Theodoros Veroutis.

According to reports on Friday, a 65-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of accidentally starting the Elea blaze with sparks from a metal grinder.

Source: ekathimerini.com.