Porto Germeno fire continues to rage; blazes contained in Ilia, Fokida, Zakynthos

Greek firefighters continued to battle multiple scattered fronts of a large forest blaze near the seaside town of Porto Germeno, west of Athens, for a second day on Wednesday, one of several burning around the country.

More than 150 firefighters and volunteers, assisted by a water-dropping aircraft, were battling the fire that broke out around noon Tuesday, 70 kilometers west of the capital.

On Tuesday, authorities had evacuated the village of Mytikas as a precaution, but there were no reports of injuries.

Two other blazes were partianlly contained on Thursday in the Peloponnese region: The first was in the area of Korifi, in Ilia, where a large contingent of firefighters were still operating.

“The fire, which is located mainly in a ravine, neither threatened nor threatens residential areas,” Aggeliki Dionysopoulou, head of Civil Protection of the municipality of Pyrgos, told the semi-official Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) on Wednesday.

A second large blaze in the foothills of Mount Parnassos in Fokida, had been largely contained, but not before burning through an important stretch of olive groves. Authorities said 140 firefighters were at the scene.

In Zakynthos, a blaze burning in forested area of Kambi seemed to be contained.

According to the Fire Risk Prediction Map, issued by the General Secretariat for Civil Protection, there is a very high fire risk in the regions of Attica, central and south Evia, Viotia, Samos Ikaria, Chios and Psara.