60 fires burn across country
More than 60 fires burned across Greece over the weekend as temperatures remained high, prompting authorities to issue another fire warning for today. Authorities said most of the fires had been contained or brought partially under control. There were no reports of homes being threatened. A forest fire in Nafpaktos, central Greece, which began four days ago, reignited yesterday. Forty firefighters using 16 trucks were involved in the operation to extinguish the blaze. Another fire broke out at Elikona, in central Greece’s Viotia region. Five water-dropping planes and two helicopters were involved in efforts to extinguish the blaze along with a ground force of 32 firefighters. Last week, about 180 fires broke out across the country. Meanwhile, police said yesterday they had arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of arson. The suspect, an Iranian national, was reportedly caught by police on Saturday as he tried to set fire to a bush in the Pedion tou Areos park in central Athens. Authorities have issued a higher fire danger warning today for Attica and a number of islands including Corfu, Lefkada and Zakynthos. The hot weather is expected to continue this week, with the temperature hitting 43 Celsius (109 Fahrenheit) by Wednesday.
