Thousands of residents in an outer district of Athens, Greece's capital, were issued evacuation orders on Tuesday as firefighters battled an escalating series of wildfires across the country, resulting in a death toll of 20. Civil protection authorities mandated the evacuation of Ano Liosia, a northwest district with over 25,000 inhabitants. Adjacent to this area is the community of Fyli.
Within the past 24 hours, more than 60 fires erupted, prompting the deployment of aid from six countries through the European Union's civil protection mechanism. This response comes as Greece experiences an alarming convergence of gale-force winds and temperatures soaring to 41 degrees Celsius (105.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
Yiannis Artopios, the spokesperson for the fire department, described the situation as "unprecedented" due to the extreme weather conditions. He noted that fires on Tuesday "swelled to enormous proportions" in a remarkably brief period.
Tragically, earlier on the same day, eighteen individuals suspected to be migrants were found deceased in a forest fire near the Turkish border north of Alexandroupolis. Since no residents were reported missing, the possibility that the victims were unauthorized entrants into the country is under investigation, according to Yiannis Artopios.
This area frequently serves as an entry point for irregular migrants, adding to the situation's complexity. These newly reported deaths contribute to the overall toll of 20 fatalities from the ongoing fires this week.
“Local media are now mentioning eight more bodies, so a possible total of 26 charred bodies in that area,” he said.
Numerous other blazes spread across northeastern Greece, the islands of Evia and Kythnos, the Boeotia region north of Athens, the Peloponnese, and western Greece. The devastating fires prompted the evacuation of the hospital in Alexandroupolis, a northeastern port city, forcing the relocation of 65 patients to a ferry docked at the city's harbour.
Notably, the fire near Alexandroupolis threatens the national park of Dadia, a crucially important European protected area renowned for its rare birds of prey.
The dangerous conditions, characterized by extreme heat and dryness, will persist until Friday. Amidst a heatwave, a fire that ignited on July 18 and was fueled by strong winds consumed nearly 17,770 hectares (approximately 43,850 acres) over ten days in the south of Rhodes, a popular tourist island in the southeastern Aegean Sea. The extent of the fire forced the evacuation of approximately 20,000 people, mostly tourists.
