PENTELI, Greece/ATHENS: A fast-moving wildfire fueled by searing summer heat and strong winds spread to the edge of Athens on Monday, torching trees, houses and cars and forcing the evacuations of more than 25 towns and villages, Greek authorities said. Almost 700 firefighters backed by volunteers, 190 fire engines and 33 waterbombing aircraft battled the blaze that broke out at 3 pm (midday GMT) on Sunday near Varnavas 35 km (20 miles) north of the capital.

By Monday the fire, the worst in Greece this year, had advanced to the fringes of Athens’ densely populated northern suburbs around the heavily wooded Mount Penteli, sending columns of smoke into the air across the horizon. There were so far no reports of deaths. Thirteen people were treated by rescuers and medical staff for smoke inhalation and two firefighters for burns, fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said.

At least 25 areas were forced to evacuate residents, government officials said, along with at least three hospitals, and power cuts occurred in parts of the wider Athens region. Police had so far helped evacuate more than 250 people, and some residents spent the night in shelters.

A woman speaks on her mobile phone as a wildfire burns on a hillside.

Summers in Greece have long been marked by wildfires but hotter, drier weather linked to climate change have made blazes more frequent and intense. Wildfires fanned by extreme heat have also raged this month in parts of Spain and the Balkans. As a phalanx of flames closed in on backyards on the outskirts of Athens, some residents in Penteli stayed put, trying to put out pockets of fire using hoses or tree branches as smoke swirled around them.

“It hurts, we have grown up in the forest, we feel great sadness and anger,” said 24-year-old resident Marina Kalogerakou, her mouth and nose covered by a red bandana as she poured a bucket of water on a burning tree stump. Another resident, Pantelis Kyriazis, crashed his car as he tried to escape the encroaching flames. “I couldn’t see, I hit a pine tree and this is what happened,” he said, gesturing towards his damaged car and nursing a bleeding elbow.

Record heat, scant rain

The southeastern Mediterranean country this year experienced its warmest winter on record and is on track for its hottest ever summer. Large areas of Greece, including the location of this week’s blaze, have seen little or no rain for months. Greece is on high fire alert at least until Thursday with temperatures forecast to reach up to 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Authorities have called for an emergency response involving the army, police and volunteers during that period.

On Sunday, the blaze threw up flames as high as 25 meters (82 feet) and spread “like lightning”, the fire brigade said. By nightfall, thick smoke had darkened the sky over Athens. The blaze on Monday reached the village of Grammatiko north of Athens, the seaside municipality of Nea Makri and the town of Marathonas. Areas previously under control appeared to be rekindling, said fire brigade spokesperson Vathrakogiannis.

Passenger ferries to the port of Rafina were diverted to Lavrio southeast of Athens due to the advancing blaze. With winds forecast to strengthen further, “we have a very difficult day ahead of us”, Theodore Giannaros, researcher at the National Observatory of Athens, told state TV ERT.

The blaze reminded residents of a 2018 fire that killed 104 people in the seaside town of Mati, near the capital. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cut short a holiday on the island of Crete to visit the fire brigade’s operations center on Monday. — Reuters