Two major blazes burn west of Athens
Dozens of homes and animals charred; fire was inching close to a refinery Tuesday night
Two major wildfires were burning west of Athens for a second day in a row Tuesday, burning dozens of houses, animals and threatening an oil refinery late at night, authorities said.
Starting in Attica Monday, the fires have spread into the regional units of Corinthia and Viotia, burning mostly through forestland, but also farmland, authorities said.
A third fire that started in eastern Attica, southeast of Athens, was contained early Tuesday. Estimates about the affected area vary from 2,000 to 3,000 hectares.
Officials canceled vacations and leave for firefighters, while Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cut short a visit to Brussels and returned to Athens to meet with the heads of the Fire Service and Civil Protection Agency.
“The swirling and gusty winds keep shifting the fire’s front to the west,” Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
The town of Loutraki, close to Corinth, was besieged by the blaze for a second day in a row, but that front was partially contained by 120 firefighters on the ground, 43 fire engines and four helicopters, as well as volunteers, another Fire Service spokesman said. Loutraki, as well as the settlements of Perachora and Agioi Theodoroi have been placed on an emergency footing for the next six months to deal with the consequences of the fire.
Charalambos Vytiniotis, deputy regional governor of the Peloponnese, said that an estimated 30 homes had been burned in the Corinth regional unit.
Responding to complaints that planes and helicopters were late in arriving or did not show up at all, the Ministry of Civil Protection said that, given the many incidents they had to respond to, they did a credible job. A total of 23 planes and 18 helicopters operated Monday, the ministry said. The number rose Tuesday, as aircraft from other areas across Greece that were not affected were shifted. Greece also made a plea to the EU’s civil protection body and four planes were expected to arrive from France and Italy.
The fire that broke out in the area of Dervenochoria near Mt Parnitha shortly after 5 p.m. Monday is now the biggest one, advancing on a 20-kilometer front. “It’s a fire that will keep us occupied for days,” a senior Fire Service officer said.
