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A member of the fire brigade tries to save a house from the flames in Loutraki

Photograph:

VASSILIS PSOMAS / EPA

After a long dry period, several large forest and bush fires have broken out in the metropolitan area of the Greek capital Athens. The Civil Defense ordered the evacuation of numerous residents, including children's summer camps in several villages in eastern Athens and near the seaside resort of Loutraki in the west of the capital. Houses also burned out there, as state television showed. After a relatively rainy and cool spring, these are the first major vegetation fires in Greece this year.

The conditions are difficult mainly because of strong winds, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told journalists in Brussels on the sidelines of the EU-Latin America summit. The state apparatus is doing everything it can to contain the fires. "I would like to appeal to our citizens to follow the instructions of the Civil Defense," he said. The top priority in firefighting is the protection of human lives. Only then would the protection of property and the environment come. The fires are also a consequence of the climate crisis, which is being felt more and more intensely, he added.

Highway closed due to smoke

"We are fighting against around 20 forest and bush fires that also threaten inhabited regions," said a spokesman for the fire brigade on state radio. Dozens of planes and helicopters are in use. Due to the heavy smoke, the highway on the Patras – Athens route near the city of Loutraki was temporarily closed.

The civil defense had already warned at the weekend: After several days with temperatures more than 40 degrees and a longer dry period, strong winds set in on Monday. The risk of fire is great – and because of the strong wind, so is the potentially rapid spread of fires.

On Monday, it was largely bearable nationwide at around 35 degrees, but before that, the thermometers had shown 44 degrees at the weekend in Crete and Athens, among other places. The next heat is coming, meteorologists said. From Wednesday onwards, temperatures will rise again and next weekend it will again be more than 40 degrees in many places. In the metropolis of Athens, among other places, temperatures are expected to rise up to 44 degrees.

atb/dpa