Firefighters fought an uncontrolled conflagration west of the Greek capital Athens for the third day in a row. In the afternoon, the wind turned, and a sea of flames ate its way down from the mountains into lower areas.
The fire threatens houses in the area of the village of Vilia, as TV images showed. Several helicopters and fire-fighting planes, hundreds of firefighters from Greece and Poland and volunteers continued to contain the flames. People from the village also helped. The fire had already destroyed a small house, as can be seen on the TV pictures.
A spokesman for the authorities complained that there were no roads or aisles near the village of Vilia, west of Athens, on which the fire brigade could reach the fires on the high mountains with their vehicles. As a result, the fires spread again the night the aerial fire fighting stopped, he said.
(Update)
The settlements of Karaouli, Paleochori, Panorama and Agia Sotira were evacuated, as the large fire front raging for a fourth day in Vilia is located near these areas.
Ground forces and air forces are fighting with constant flares and changes in the direction of the air.
The Deputy Regional Minister of Civil Protection of Attica, Vassilis Kokkalis said that at the moment there is a north wind that drives the fire towards the burnt ones.
The Deputy Regional Governor of West Attica, Lefteris Kosmopoulos, expressed his assessment that several scattered houses in Karaouli and Thea have burned down at our station.
"The fire will go out on its own, it is like throwing glasses of water," he said, describing the dramatic situation, while warning that if no immediate intervention is made, the fire will go to the place where the Parnitha fire started in 2007.
The deputy mayor of Mandra, Panagiotis Koloventzos, appealed for water tanks through our station, emphasizing that we have constant resurgences on all fronts.
The digital platform arogi.gov.gr is in operation for the provision of financial support to those affected by the catastrophic fires.
The application submission deadline is September 30th.
Greek and @Polish @firefighters continue to battle a blaze west of @Athens, the latest in a two-week series of wildfires that have caused extensive damage in southern @Greece. pic.twitter.com/ctH35cy8MF
— Thanassis Stavrakis (@TStavrak) August 19, 2021
