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Greek firefighters battle large forest fires near Athens

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Greek firefighters battle large forest fires near Athens

Firefighters battle forest fires near Athens, Greece, July 1, 2024. Photo: X/ @Globalnews024

July 1, 2024 Time: 7:23 AM

More than 100 firefighters fought on the front lines, supported by 18 planes and helicopters dropping water.

On Sunday, one person died in a fire raging in Stamata, a northern suburb of Athens. The victim was a 45-year-old man who suffered a heart attack when the flames reached his home. He was transferred to a local health center but lost the fight.

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Meanwhile, more than 100 firefighters, supported by 18 water-dropping planes and helicopters, battled a front stretching about 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles), warning nearby residents to be on alert and directing traffic.

Four neighborhoods and a children’s summer camp were evacuated as strong winds hampered efforts to extinguish the fire. “We ask our fellow citizens to strictly follow the instructions,” said Nikos Hardalias, governor of the Attica region.

A still unknown number of homes and cars have been burned in a fire raging in the municipality of Lavreotiki in southeastern Attica, some 40 kilometres from Athens. Police helped evacuate 52 people as six neighbourhoods were evacuated.

More than 140 firefighters were dispatched to the scene, supported by 17 water-dropping planes and helicopters. Strong winds of up to nine on the Beaufort scale were blowing in the area, making extinguishing the fire difficult.

Firefighters tried to extinguish the flames before reaching the nearby Sounion National Park, which suffered major fires in 2012 and 2021. Work is now underway to restore it.

Smoke from fires in Attica has reached the island of Crete, some 200 kilometres to the south, Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the Institute for Environmental Studies at the National Observatory of Athens, said on social media, citing satellite images.

Another large fire is raging in Ritsona, a mixed residential and industrial area in the Evia region, some 70 kilometres northwest of Athens. Dozens of firefighters are battling the flames as authorities warn of an increased risk due to flammable materials inside factories near the blaze. An alert has been issued for residents of settlements, also in this case, as well as for a refugee camp.

A total of 54 forest fires broke out across the country on Saturday, according to the fire department. Since the start of the forest fire season on May 1, firefighters have been called out to extinguish dozens of forest fires every day across the country.

Greece suffers from many forest fires every summer due to high temperatures, heatwaves related to climate change and arsonists. Due to unusually high temperatures in spring and June, the risk will be high this summer.

“Difficult days are still ahead of us,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote on social media on Sunday. Forest fire prevention and the operation of a mechanism to resolve them are expected to be on the agenda of Monday’s cabinet meeting.

Author: teleSUR/ JF

Source: Xinhua

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