Strong winds are bringing a wildfire north of Athens closer to the Greek capital, while a separate blaze to the west flared up and spread near a Motor Oil Hellas SA refinery.
(Bloomberg) — Strong winds are bringing a wildfire north of Athens closer to the Greek capital, while a separate blaze to the west flared up and spread near a Motor Oil Hellas SA refinery.
The second fire in Loutraki, a resort town 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Athens popular with people who want a second home near the beach, flared up Tuesday morning and is spreading. It remains uncontrolled, a fire department spokesman said during an evening briefing.
Authorities are evacuating some areas and police have closed one of the country’s main highways connecting Athens with Loutraki to create a buffer zone around homes and the refinery. Police have asked those driving from western Greece to Athens to avoid the area.
The other blaze has spread to Mandra, some 27 kilometers northwest of Athens. “We are living a nightmare,” Mandra’s Mayor Christos Stathis told Open TV on Tuesday.
Greek authorities have asked people to evacuate a broader area around Mandra, while police have closed some exits on the Attica Motorway, one of the region’s main highways. The European Union is sending four firefighting planes from France and Italy to assist Greece, as blazes that destroyed houses outside the capital are still burning.
Fires are breaking out across Europe as another blast of heat from the Sahara envelops the Mediterranean. Temperatures in Greece are set to climb toward 44C from Thursday.
Other fires in areas southeast of Athens, including Kouvaras, Saronida and Anavissos, have been quelled by firefighters using jets and helicopters. Residents and children from summer camps were evacuated to the nearest beaches on Monday, but only a few animals survived a blaze at a shelter in Kouvaras. The fire destroyed many homes used for short-term rentals in Panorama.
“I have many friends with Airbnb that saw their properties being burnt and their clients left,” said Xara Kovoussi, a resident of Anavissos who took refuge on a nearby beach. “We had headaches and our eyes were burning.”
The state will compensate everyone whose property was damaged or destroyed, the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Monday evening from Brussels.
(Updates with more details in lead and throughtout.)
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