Firefighters continue to battle a wildfire on the Greek island of Crete, in the Rethymno area where at least eight villages have been evacuated.
According to Associated Press, the blaze tore through olive groves, farmland and scrub, damaging irrigation networks, but posed no immediate threat to the busy holiday resorts along the island’s coast.
A total of 250 firefighters with 14 groups of forest firefighters, 54 fire trucks, 23 aerial units and volunteers are on site at the Amari and Aghios Vassilios municipalities.
They are supported by water trucks and earthworks machinery and from the Armed Forces and Region of Crete.
Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias has also arrived on the scene to oversee the effort.
The fire service said 40 members of a specialist unit from Athens joined the operation in the island’s central Rethymno area late Thursday, boosting the ground forces to nearly 300. A first team was sent in on Wednesday.
No injuries or severe damage to homes have been reported as firefighters were hoping to take advantage of an overnight lull in the wind to bring the blaze under control.
Authorities have said this year carries the highest fire risk in the past 20 years. More than 2,000 wildfires have erupted all over Greece this summer.
This year is expected to be warmest year on record, according to Copernicus Climate Change Service.
July was marked by record heatwaves in Greece, Japan, and Morocco, where temperatures exceeded 48 degrees Celsius, causing 21 deaths in 24 hours.
Europe experienced its second warmest July, following 2010, while global ocean temperatures remained high.
Last month recorded the second highest sea surface temperature in history, at 20.88 degrees Celsius.
