81 wildfires has been reported around Greece, which is in the middle of its worst heatwave since 1987, with temperatures reaching as high as 47.1°C, in 24 hours from late Monday to late Tuesday.

The largest of the fires broke out in a forest area at the foot of Mount Parnitha northeast of Athens on Tuesday, and has continued to rage out of control all night. It spread on three fronts, engulfing the suburbs of Varibobi, Adames and Thrakomakedones, with firefighters and police called in to assist in at least 315 evacuation and rescue operations.

After sweeping through the Olympic Village on Tuesday night, the blaze reached the outskirts of Kryoneri in the early hours of Wednesday and reportedly damaged grounds at Tatoi, a listed park and historic site of the former royal family’s summer residence, just north of Kifissia. Dozens of homes were burned and hundreds of people have been evacuated.

Three hundred police officers assisted in the evacuation, while six SMS warnings were sent from the emergency number 112.

Firefighters also fought blazes for many hours on end in eastern Mani, in the area of Asklipieio on Kos, and in Vasilitsa, Messinia and in Myrtia, Pyrgos, as well as on Evia, where multiple villages and settlements are being evacuated as a precaution. The situation is said to be particularly critical in the area of Drymonas on Evia, where firefighters appeared to be making some progress in the early hours of Wednesday, until a shift in winds reignited the fire and scattered it in different directions, currently threatening a group of monks who are refusing to evacuate even though their monastery, Saint David, is surrounded.

The National Observatory of Athens (NOA) has advised residents and visitors across the Attica basin to restrict their movements outdoors to the essential, and to wear heavy-duty face masks when venturing outdoors to protect themselves from the thick smoke from the north Attica wildfire. In comments to the press, Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias said that the EKAV ambulance service has received 77 calls so far from people having trouble breathing. EKAV has dispatched 10 ambulances to an area just beyond the Varibobi fire to help anyone in distress.

“The times are critical, our country is experiencing one of the worst heatwaves of the last 40 years, we are fighting the battle with concern and priority to save human life,” Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias said in a n emergency briefing. Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis stressed that police, local government and the volunteers were fighting a “superhuman battle,” while the mayor of Acharnes, Spyros Vrettos, told Skai that “The destruction is incalculable.”

Evacuated people were offered room in Attica hotels while Hardalias said that artworks from the former royal estate of Tatoi were being transferred as a precaution in cooperation with the Culture Ministry. Owners of equestrian clubs also evacuated dozens of horses as the flames approached. 

The blazes also damaged electricity pylons, placing a further strain on the power network that was already under pressure due to widespread use of air conditioning.

A timelapse video from meteo.gr shows the smoke spreading in the Attica basin on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited Varibobi on Wednesday morning to thank the firefighters on the scene. “These fires in urban forests are an absolute nightmare. Thank God there has been no loss of life and the evacuation system worked perfectly. Our vital infrastructures held,” he said, referring to the evacuation of thousands of residents and vacationers.

Adding that a few more “tough days” still lie ahead as Greece grapples with the worst heatwave in decades, the prime minister also called on the public to refrain from any activities that could spark new fires: “We have a few more days of the heatwave ahead and then the winds will pick up, so I’m asking all of you to remain fully alert so that the damage from now on is as small as possible.”

Source: ekathimerini.com.