[Giorgos Vitsaras/AMNA]
Firefighters in storm-battered Greece struggled Wednesday to contain new blazes around the capital Athens and on the island of Salamina.
In the city of Megara, west of Athens, two new blazes broke out during the day and night efforts to contain the blaze on Mount Pentelli, on the outskirts of the city, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents.
There were 95 firefighters in the area, 34 vehicles, seven water bombs and six helicopters.
A separate fire broke out in a forested area of Salamina and quickly split into three fronts, with authorities ordering the evacuation of a local health clinic and telling residents near the ancient theater of Euripides to evacuate to Karaiskaki beach.
Greece’s Minister of Civil Protection and Climate Change, Christos Stylianides, said: “New fires are spreading as we look at the situation caused by climate change.” “The conditions we are operating in are very damaging. Wind gusts have exceeded 110 kilometers per hour (68 mph) in some areas.
Greece was spared the heat wave that hit western European countries including the UK this week, but fire officials said weeks of hot and dry conditions this summer, as well as long periods of rising temperatures, had increased the overall risk. Forest fires.
At least two people in the Greek capital were hospitalized with breathing problems and minor burns. Helicopters lifted the pumped water into outdoor tanks near houses on the hillsides before climbing into thick smoke to bring the water down.
[Kathimerini, AP]
