ATHENS: Rain overnight in wildfire-ravaged areas of Greece have helped “improve the situation” on Thursday (Aug 12), a local mayor said, but hundreds of firefighters were still battling to contain new flare-ups.
Fires fanned by Greece’s most severe heatwave in decades – which authorities have blamed on climate change – have burnt through nearly 100,000ha over the last fortnight, leaving three dead, hundreds homeless, thousands forced to evacuate, and economic and environmental devastation in their wake.
“The fire fronts are still active” on the island of Evia and the Arcadia region of the Peloponnese peninsula and “fires are constantly flaring up” in both areas, a firefighting official told AFP.
And a new fire broke out on Thursday morning in a forested area of Aspropyrgos, 20km northwest of Athens.
After weeks of punishing temperatures often well over 40 degrees Celsius, a lower 33 degrees Celsius was forecast for Thursday.
The falling temperatures and overnight rain in Evia, the Peloponnese and central Greece had helped “improve the situation,” said Stathis Koulis, the mayor of Gortynia.
The village of Gortynia, in a mountainous area of Arcadia 200km west of Athens, has become the primary focus in the Peloponnese with deep ravines posing a challenge to firefighters.
