
Wildfire seasons are getting longer due to rising temperatures.
Panteli, Greece:
Thousands of people fled their homes around Athens on Monday, including in the historic town of Marathon, as strong winds fanned a wall of wildfire flames near the Greek capital.
ERT public broadcaster reported that a 30 km (20 mi) long front line of fire, more than 25 meters (80 ft) high in places, was moving towards Athens.
About 700 firefighters and more than 30 aircraft battled the blaze, which had entered the city’s outer suburbs near Mount Panteleimon.
Authorities opened the Olympic Stadium and other stadiums in northern Athens to those who escaped. Three major hospitals have been put on standby.
One firefighter suffered severe burns, another was hospitalized with shortness of breath and 13 others suffered minor respiratory problems, fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoginis said.
Hollandie became the latest suburban municipality to order partial evacuations of areas threatened by the flames.
“Because of the direction of the wind we have decided to evacuate as a precaution,” its mayor Seamus Roussos told ERT. “The fire is too close.”
Television footage showed houses engulfed in flames in Nea Penteli, an Athens suburb that also prompted residents to evacuate.
Many small communities and towns began to empty on Sunday, including the marathon that gives its name to the Olympic long-distance race.
“We are facing a biblical catastrophe,” said Marathon Mayor Stergios Serkas. “Our whole town is on fire,” he told the Sky television channel.
Smoke billowed across central Athens as thick gray clouds engulfed Mount Panteleicon, which towers over the capital and is known for producing the marble used in the Acropolis and other ancient buildings.
“Civil protection forces fought hard throughout the night, but despite superhuman efforts, the fire spread quickly,” Vathrakogiannis said.
He said the wind had reignited the fire at 40 different locations on Monday.
A children’s hospital and a military medical center in Panteli were evacuated in the morning, Vathrakogiannis said.
The devastation brought back memories of the Mati disaster, a coastal area near Marathon where 104 people died in a disaster in July 2018 that was blamed on delays and mistakes in evacuation.
Greece has seen dozens of summer forest fires this year after the Mediterranean country recorded its warmest winter and the hottest June and July seasons since reliable data were collected in 1960.
Temperatures around Athens are forecast to reach 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, with winds of 50 kilometers (31 miles) per hour.
– ‘Caught in flames’ –
“Forest fire near you. Follow the instructions of the authorities,” SMS messages sent to people in the Attica region said which direction to run.
Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kekilias issued a warning on Saturday that half of the country faces a high risk of fires due to high temperatures, strong winds and drought.
On Monday, he said the fire that broke out near the town of Varnavas on Sunday spread even though a water-bombing plane reached the area in just five minutes.
“We’re all working 24-hour shifts,” said fireman Marinos Peristropoulos.
“The fire spread very quickly because of the strong wind,” he told AFP near one of the hotspots in Grammatico.
Human-induced fossil fuel emissions are worsening the length, frequency and intensity of heat waves worldwide, scientists say.
According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, rising temperatures are leading to longer wildfire seasons and increasing the area burned in flames.
Other parts of Europe are also struggling with high temperatures.
Temperatures soared above 40 Celsius in parts of France on Sunday. Temperatures in Rome were expected to reach 38 Celsius on Monday and hover around 36 Celsius this week.
Temperatures in the Netherlands are expected to be between 32 and 35 degrees Celsius.
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