Greece Conducts Mass Evacuations from Athens Suburbs due to Huge Forest Fire

A wildfire that broke out on Sunday northeast of Athens has spread to Mount Penteli, north of the Greek capital, causing mass evacuations.

This was reported by Kathimerini.

Residents of the settlements of Nea and Palaya Penteli were evacuated at around 5am due to the fire, and later an evacuation order was issued for the settlements of Drafi, Dioni, Damarasi Rafina, Dau Penteli, Agios Spyridon and Anatoli Nea Makri.

At the same time, the staff and patients of the Penteli Children's Hospital and the 414th Military Hospital, as well as the Agios Efraim Monastery in the Anatoli area and the Penteli Monastery were evacuated.

On Sunday evening, a thick cloud of brown smoke hung over some parts of Athens.

Greek police have already moved dozens of people at risk from the fires, and this morning issued a statement urging citizens to follow the instructions issued to evacuate the areas and not to approach the fire-affected areas in their vehicles.

Source: Getty Images

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis chaired a meeting of the Joint Crisis Management Coordination Centre on Monday morning.

Ioannis Ambratzidis, head of the Dionysos municipal council in the northern suburb of Athens, called last night a nightmare.

"The fire burned uncontrollably, consuming every tree and every house. In our neighbourhood, Rhodopoli, Rapentosa, Stamata were on fire, many houses were damaged, but we still don't know how many of them were completely burnt down and how many were damaged. The disaster is great. Overnight alone, we received 5,112 messages.

The only positive thing was that many people went on holiday, so there was no panic during the evacuation," he said.

According to Reuters, more than 400 firefighters, 17 planes and 13 helicopters are involved in extinguishing the fire.

According to Euronews, on Sunday, a forest fire broke out near the village of Varnava near the Greek capital Athens: the speed of its spread forced villagers to leave their homes and the Athenian sky was covered with smoke.

Hundreds of wildfires have broken out across Greece this summer, which has just recorded its hottest June and July on record after the warmest winter on record.

As in other Mediterranean countries, scientists attribute their spread to increasingly hot and dry weather caused by global climate change.