Raging Wildfires in Greece, Turkey, Force Thousands to Flee
August 10, 2021
(AP) — Wildfires raged uncontrolled through Greece and Turkey for yet another day Friday, forcing thousands to flee by land and sea, and killing a volunteer firefighter on the fringes of Athens in a huge forest blaze that threatened the Greek capital’s most important national park.
Eight people have died in Turkey’s blazes, described as the worst in decades, that swept through swaths of the southern coast for the past 10 days.
In Greece, which had suffered a record heat wave, Civil Protection chief Nikos Hardalias said firefighters faced “exceptionally dangerous, unprecedented conditions” as they battled 154 wildfires Friday, with 64 still burning into the night.
“Over the past few days we have been facing a situation without precedent in our country, in the intensity and wide distribution of the wildfires, and the new outbreaks all over (Greece),” he said in an evening briefing. “I want to assure you that all forces available are taking part in the fight.”
Evacuation orders were issued for dozens of villages on the mainland and the nearby island of Evia, as well as outlying settlements on the forested fringes of Athens. Scores of homes and businesses have been destroyed or damaged, although authorities have been unable yet to provide detailed figures.
Shifting winds and new flashpoints Friday afternoon caused the blazes outside Athens and Evia to repeatedly change direction, in some cases returning to threaten areas that had narrowly escaped destruction earlier this week.
After burning through forests and houses towards Lake Marathon, the capital’s main water reservoir, a branch of the fire headed off into the Mount Parnitha national park — one of the last remaining substantial forests near Athens, which already bore deep scars from wildfires in 2007.
Story by THANASSIS STAVRAKIS, NICHOLAS PAPHITIS and SUZAN FRASER for the Associated Press
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