Mandra, Greece
Reuters
A wildfire swept uncontrolled through a forest and towns north-west of Athens for a second day on Tuesday, forcing more residents to flee their homes as authorities fought to stop the flames reaching an area with oil refineries.
The active fire front extended over eight kilometres, officials said, damaging homes around the town of Mandra, which was blanketed by dense smoke.
“We are living a nightmare,” Mandra Mayor Christos Stathis told Open TV. “Houses and properties are on fire.”
A firefighter tries to extinguish a wildfire burning near the village of Pournari, Greece, on 18th July, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Louiza Vradi
In 2017, Mandra, a largely industrial area, was hit by flash floods that killed 24 people.
Traffic was suspended on two national roads connecting Athens with the cities of Elefsina and Corinth, where oil refineries operate.
Wildfire spreads in Bitsch, Valais, Switzerland, on 17th July, 2023. PICTURE: Switzerland Valais Police/Handout via Reuters
SWITZERLAND FIGHTS TO CONTAIN FOREST FIRE NEAR ITALY BORDER AS WINDS PICK UP
Swiss firefighters on Tuesday were battling a forest fire that has forced more than 200 people to evacuate, and authorities warned winds were making the blaze difficult to contain.
The fire broke out on Monday on the forested flank of a mountain in Bitsch in the Valais canton near the Italian border. Helicopters hovered overhead throughout the night to drop water onto the blaze.
It could take days or weeks to fully put out the fire, which has spread to 100 hectares of forest, said Mario Schaller, who is in charge of firefighting operations.
“In the last half hour, several fires flared up again,” he said. “The situation is not yet under control. The firefighting will continue until late into the night.”
The blaze had eased earlier on Tuesday but began intensifying again due to the wind.
The Swiss Government said that starting on Wednesday, militia soldiers would be called upon to detect smouldering fires. The Swiss army had previously dispatched a helicopter to support firefighting efforts.
The situation could deteriorate further if winds grow stronger, said Adrienne Bellwald, spokesperson for the cantonal police.
In separate comments, the cantonal police department said an investigation had been opened to determine the cause of the fire.
Switzerland is warming at more than twice the global average, partly due to its distance from the ocean which helps absorb extra heat.
Its Federal Office for the Environment has warned forest fires could become more frequent, especially in summer, due to an increase in hot, dry weather caused by climate change.
The current conflagration has already destroyed more than half the forest area that would have been burned by more than 100 smaller fires in a typical year, the same government department said in emailed comments to Reuters.
Large areas of Europe, Asia and the United States are suffering extreme weather and the World Meteorological Organization warned the northern hemisphere heatwave is set to intensify this week.
– DENIS BALIBOUSE with additional reporting by NOELE ILLIAN and EMMA FARGE, Bitsch, Switzerland/Reuters
A shipyard in the town of Neos Pontos, near Mandra, had been destroyed, state ERT TV said. Earlier a thick column of smoke rose into the sky after an explosion, a Reuters witness said.
Authorities have urged residents in the area to head to Elefsina. Police assisted the evacuation of more than 300 people, a police official told Reuters.
The blaze, which broke out on Monday in the region of Dervenochoria, about 30 km north of Athens, spread fast as it was fanned by erratic winds and reached Mandra, west of the capital, on Tuesday, forcing people to flee and burning houses.
Greece’s recently re-elected Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cut short his trip to Brussels, where he had been attending an EU-Latin America summit, earlier on Tuesday, to return home and monitor more closely the operation.
More than 250 firefighters assisted by volunteers, 75 fire engines, 11 aircraft and nine helicopters battled the fire.
Firefighters managed to contain other blazes southeast and west of the Greek capital, but some fronts were still active and flames were sporadically rekindled by strong winds.
The Vice Governor of the Corinth region, west of the capital, said that at least 30 houses were severely damaged by the fire on Monday in Loutraki. The blaze had not been brought under control, a fire brigade official said.
Another fire was tamed on Tuesday, having first broken out on Monday in the village of Kouvaras, about 27 kilometres south-east of the Greek capital. That fire had quickly spread to the coastal towns of Anavyssos, Lagonisi and Saronida.
A local mayor told Greek television that more than 7,000 acres of land was reduced to ashes along the coast, where many Athenians have holiday homes.
Four Canadair water bomber aircraft from Italy and France were expected to land at the Elefsina military airport later on Tuesday, the civil protection ministry said in a statement. Foreign firefighters were also assisting the efforts.
The Greek meteorological service has warned of a high risk of fire this week, just as the country is recovering from the first major heatwave of the summer. A second heatwave was forecast for later this week.
Authorities warned that Greece would also be hit by near gale force winds in the coming days.
Greece still has memories of a wildfire disaster in 2018, when a blaze killed 101 people in the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens.
– With reporting by STAMOS PROUSALIS, ANGELIKI KOUTANTOU, RENEE MALTEZOU AND MICHELE KAMBAS
