Some 95 firefighters, 33 fire engines and 4 ground teams were battling a wildfire in the region of Achaia in the Peloponnese on Saturday, assisted by four water-dowsing aircraft and several helicopters.
The unfolding forest fire has led to an order for people in the villages of Lampiri, Kamares, Ziria and Ano Ziria to evacuate as the inferno approached residential areas.
An emergency 112 alert has also been issued to residents near the fire urging them to “evacuate immediately towards Aigio.”
The university hospitals in the cities of Patras, Aegio and Rio have been put on high alert by order of Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias, as has the National Emergency Response Ambulance Center (EKAV).
Meanwhile, traffic on the old Patras-Corinth national highway has been closed off between Drepano and Selianitika and between Drepano and Loggos on the new Patras-Corinth national highway.
On Saturday evening, the Fire Brigade ordered the safe removal of residents in the coastal community of Loggos at Aegialia, with the same order directing the safe removal of 20 hotel guests.
For precautionary reasons some 100 children were also evacuated at a summer camp in the coastal town of Panagopoula.