Greek firefighters were battling a series of blazes Thursday in the southwestern Peloponnese region, where authorities evacuated villages as a severe drought raised fears the damage could spread.
Emergency officials said they had deployed hundreds of firefighters, backed by 30 planes and helicopters, to the municipality of Corinth, where four active fires were raging.
The fires, which started Tuesday, have burned 1,145 hectares (2,830 acres), the equivalent of about 1,600 football pitches, according to European monitoring service Copernicus.
That included parkland in the Natura programme, a network of protected areas covering Europe’s most valuable and threatened species and habitats.
“Four hectares of built-up areas may be affected,” Copernicus said on X.
Several houses have already been damaged by the flames, according to local media reports.
Two people were arrested on charges of starting the fire by negligence while working outdoors near a forested area.
Greece has been hit by drought since Monday, with temperatures forecast to reach 43C on Thursday.
Nearly half the country was on orange alert, meaning “very high” risk of fires.
Greece has already been hit by a series of heatwave-fuelled wildfires this summer, including one that forced the closure of the Acropolis in Athens, its top archaeological monument, earlier this month.
Scientists say climate change is increasing both the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires.
In neighbouring Albania, a forest fire was also burning near the southern village of Kakavia.
It crossed the border into Greece Thursday, prompting authorities to evacuate several villages.
Albania’s defence ministry said the country had been hit by 34 wildfires in the past 24 hours, eight of which were still active.
Source: AFP
