Firefighters are battling to contain a massive blaze moving “like lightning” on the outskirts of Athens, with authorities evacuating people from towns, villages and hospitals as flames rip through trees, homes and cars.
Propelled by gale-force winds, the wildfire had formed a 12-mile (20km) front by Monday despite “superhuman” efforts by forest commandos and volunteers overnight.
Greece’s climate crisis and civil protection minister said firefighters were struggling in “dramatic conditions” which had been exacerbated by terrain that had been turned into a tinderbox because of prolonged drought. On the frontline of the climate emergency, the Mediterranean nation has experienced an exceptionally hot and dry year.
“Its an extremely dangerous fire that we’ve been battling for over 20 hours in dramatic conditions because of the very strong winds and prolonged dryness,” the minister, Vassilis Kikilias, told reporters.
More than 670 firefighters, backed by 17 waterbombing planes, 15 helicopters and trucks were trying to bring the fire under control, and forces were being “continually reinforced”.
“Right now the battle is being waged on two fronts: one in the area of Kallitechnoupolis and the other in [the village of] Grammatikos,” Kikilias said. “We will continue with all our might until it is brought under control and the last front is put out.”
By mid-morning, orders for the evacuation of 11 villages and towns, including the ancient Marathon, had been issued as authorities rushed to move residents out of stricken areas. Large parts of Mt Pendeli, north of Athens, had also been engulfed by flames.
The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, cut short his summer break on Crete to return to Athens and oversee the response in a nation where memories of the 104 people who died in wildfires at the seaside resort of Mati six years ago remain strong.
The fire began in the vicinity of Varnava, a village about 20 miles north-east of Athens, sending gigantic clouds of ash smoke billowing over the capital.
From the outset, firefighting efforts were hampered by winds that on Monday were predicted to build to near-gales and had put at least half of the country under “red alert” – the highest level of extreme fire risk in the country’s five-tier system.
A fire brigade spokesman, Vassileios Vathrakogiannis, said on Sunday that flames fanned by the gusts were “up to 25 metres (80ft) high. The winds were constantly changing the course of the fires, hampering efforts to bring them under control.
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With the strong winds showing no sign of abating, meteorologists predicted the days ahead would be critical.
Health officials urged residents of Athens to limit their movements and stay inside, saying the thick smoke had seriously affected air quality across the Attica basin. By mid-afternoon Sunday, within hours of the blaze erupting, the skies above the Greek parliament in central Syntagma Square had turned a yellowish brown as ash clouds were blown southward. Greek media reported people being taken to hospital with respiratory problems.
Unprecedented temperatures – June and July were the hottest on record – after the warmest winter on record has resulted in wildfires becoming increasingly common and intense in Greece. In a first, this summer the country registered a week-long heatwave before mid-June, a sign of the accelerated pace at which climate is breaking down, environmentalists said.
Meteorologists believe 2024 will be the hottest Greek summer on record.
At least 10 tourists, including the British TV presenter Michael Mosley, died earlier this summer from heat exhaustion after walking in blistering temperatures. Mosley is believed to have succumbed to the heat two hours after he set off on a walk from a beach on the remote island of Symi in temperatures topping 40C.