Thousands of residents have been evacuated from their homes as a large wildfire has spread through the suburbs of Athens.
Greece has called on the European Union to help fight a large wildfire ravaging the northern suburbs of Athens.
As the Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated, EU spokesperson Balazs Ujvari confirmed that Italy, France, the Czech Republic and Romania are sending air and ground support to assist Greece in fighting the fire, which started Saturday afternoon.
The fires have led to thousands of evacuations in the Attica region of Athens, already exacerbated by an extreme heatwave that gripped the country.
In response to the escalating crisis, France, Italy, and the Czech Republic have answered the call to assist Greek firefighters. The contributions include:
France will send a Super Puma helicopter equipped with a water bucket along with 180 civil security firefighters and 55 lorries.
Italy will assist with two Canadair-type firefighting aircraft, while the Czech Republic is sending out 75 firefighters and 25 vehicles, including nine waterborne units.
Additional assistance from Spain and Turkey is anticipated in the coming days.
Roughly 670 firefighters have been deployed by Greece in order to extinguish the flames, which the country’s national fire department spokesman Vassileios Vathrakogiannis called “exceptionally dangerous”.
Local residents evacuate to safety
Residents in the affected areas have described being overwhelmed by the threat of fire on their doorstep.
Spyros Gorilas, a resident of Dioni, described the chaotic conditions as the fire approached his home. “The wind would go in one direction and then in the other. The smoke was suffocating. You couldn’t see. Your eyes teared up. You couldn’t breathe,” said Gorilas.
Giannis Alvanos, who lost his home to a fire two years ago, had just completed rebuilding his house when the current wildfires began.
He evacuated when ordered but returned via backroads to defend his property. “I didn’t want to lose my property for a second time,” Alvanos said, commending the firefighters for their quick response time around.
Videos posted on social media show the sky around Athens taking a yellow hue, as well as large plumes of smoke in the distant skyline.
Wildfires are not uncommon in Greece during the hot, dry summer months, but experts warn that the climate crisis making these fires more frequent and more intense.
Last year, wildfires in Greece killed over 20 people.
