Wildfire outside Athens as hundreds of blazes ravage Greece

Since fires broke out in northern Greece on Saturday, hundreds of people have fled their homes, driven by the summer's second major wildfire outbreak, fueled by heat and strong winds.

Vassilis Kikilias, the Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister, revealed that 355 wildfires have ignited since Friday, with 209 occurring in the past 48 hours. He commended firefighting teams for their "extraordinary efforts" to control these fires.

The fire brigade issued a warning that more fires could erupt, with spokesman Ioannis Artopios describing the conditions as "difficult, and in several cases, extreme."

Approximately 20 km (12 miles) north of Athens, over 200 firefighters, supported by volunteers, along with 65 vehicles and 15 aircraft, some dispatched from Sweden and Germany, battled a blaze that started near Fyli, a village at the foothills of Mount Parnitha, and extended toward the town of Menidi. Since the outbreak on Tuesday, the capital has been engulfed in smoke and ash.

By Wednesday, around 150 people from three nursing homes in Menidi were evacuated by bus to hotels or other care facilities. Police instructed other residents to leave as a firefighting helicopter hovered overhead, dropping water on the flames. During the chaos, a volunteer retrieved an icon of the Virgin Mary from a burning monastery, its yard charred and coated in ash. Meanwhile, police officers rushed to remove large gas canisters from the premises.

"The fire subsided for about half an hour... but due to these extremely strong winds, it kept reigniting," said Dimitris Armenis, a 60-year-old resident, in an interview with Reuters.

Approximately 700 migrants held at the nearby Amygdaleza facility were relocated to another camp, according to a migration ministry official.

The fire has left a trail of devastation, consuming homes and vehicles in Fyli and compelling residents to escape on foot. Some covered their faces with clothing due to the thick smoke, while volunteers loaded sheep into car trunks to rescue them.

Worst summer for fires

In the northern Evros region bordering Turkey, a fire continued to rage for a fifth consecutive day. On Tuesday, rescuers discovered 18 charred bodies believed to be migrants in an area near the Dadia forest, a common route for individuals from the Middle East and Asia attempting to enter the European Union.

In the nearby port city of Alexandroupolis, numerous hospital patients, some on stretchers and others with IV drips, were evacuated onto a ferry. A satellite image broadcast on state television displayed smoke from the Evros fires drifting across the country to the Ionian islands in the northwest, not far from Italy.

Although summer wildfires are typical in Greece, this year's fires have been exacerbated by unusually hot, dry, and windy conditions, which scientists attribute to climate change.

"This summer marks the worst since meteorological data began to be recorded," declared Minister Kikilias.

In July, tens of thousands of foreign tourists were evacuated from the island of Rhodes, where a fire raged for a week, damaging hotels, resorts, and extensive stretches of land.

"In my 32 years of service, I have never encountered conditions of this extreme nature," stated Giorgos Pournaras, the head of the fire brigade, during a press briefing.