Athens wildfire appears to subside after evacuation

A wildfire southeast of Athens appeared to have subsided on Monday, August 10, hours after Greek civil protection authorities ordered a nearby village to evacuate and firefighters deployed aircraft and helicopters against flames driven by strong winds.

Firefighters said winds of more than 70 kilometres per hour fanned the blaze in Kouvaras, about 60 kilometres southeast of Athens in the Attica region. The fire service said at least 172 firefighters and about 40 vehicles were deployed, along with two water-bombing aircraft and four helicopters.

Civil protection authorities ordered the evacuation of Agios Stylianos, a village near Kouvaras. An AFP photographer said the flames appeared to have subsided hours later.

The blaze is the second fire near Athens this summer. A fire that broke out 10 days earlier northwest of the capital destroyed more than 11,000 hectares of pine forests and farmland and took five days to bring under control after gusts reached up to 130 kilometres per hour. Two helicopter crew members died in a collision with another helicopter while battling those flames.

Greece remains on extreme alert, and several regions are still classified at very high fire risk. Scientists link increasingly frequent and intense wildfires in Greece and the wider Mediterranean to climate change.