Woman dies and thousands flee wildfires engulfing Athens region

A woman has died as a rapidly spreading wildfire has forced thousands of Greeks to evacuate their home, razing olive groves, homes and cars north of Athens.
The blaze, raging among scorching temperatures, started Sunday afternoon near the village of Varnavas before sending smoke billowing over the capital, about 40 kilometres south.It left residents and tourists in panic as skies turned a yellowish-brown and ash was showered across the city.
The body of what was thought to be a 60-year-old woman was found in a shop in the municipality of Patima Halandriou, about 22 miles northeast of the capital, according to state news agency ANA.
At least one firefighter has suffered serious burns battling the blaze, while another was taken to hospital with breathing trouble, Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, a fire brigade spokesman, said on Monday.
About 60 civilians have been treated for injuries according to the Greek health minister.
More than 685 firefighters and 190 fire engines were been battling the flames on Monday, which reached up to 25 metres high, and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, has cut short his summer holidays to oversee emergency operations.
Vathrakogiannis said firefighters were no longer battling a single front but “many active localised blazes,” mostly around Marathon and Pendeli.
Spyros Gorilas, a resident of Dioni who hosed down his house with water to save it from the flames, said: “The smoke was suffocating. You couldn’t see. Your eyes teared up. You couldn’t breathe. You couldn’t see the house … Even the helicopter that dropped water, you couldn’t see it. You could only hear it. Nothing else.”
The fire in Varnavas remained unchecked on Monday morning with firefighters focusing on three major fronts in Penteli, Kallitechnoupoli and Nea Makri. No suspected arsonists have been arrested.
A children’s hospital and a military hospital were being evacuated, the fire department said. Orders for residents to leave were issued in more than a dozen areas. Evacuees were moved to hotels and at least one sports hall was turned into a temporary shelter.
The mayor of Marathon, which gave its name to the long-distance race, said the town was facing a “biblical catastrophe”. Stergios Tsirkas told the Skai television channel: “Our whole town is engulfed in flames and going through difficult times.”
Eight people have been hospitalised with respiratory problems and the Olympic stadium in northern Athens was opened to house those fleeing.
Marathon’s 7,000 residents were told to head for the coastal town of Nea Makri.
“Civil protection forces battled hard throughout the night, but despite superhuman efforts, the fire evolved rapidly,” said Colonel Vassileios Vathrakogiannis, the fire department’s spokesman. “At this moment it has reached Mount Pentelicus and is headed in the direction of Penteli.”
Three Athens hospitals were on heightened alert, while paramedics and ambulances treated two firefighters — one for light burns and the other for breathing problems — and 13 civilians for breathing problems, Vathrakogiannis said. The Athens Medical Association urged residents near affected areas to exercise caution, especially those with chronic conditions, the elderly, pregnant women, young children, and those with respiratory and heart problems.
Greece’s coastguard diverted all ferries going to and from the nearby port of Rafina, which serves mainly the Cycladic islands and Crete, to the port of Lavrion because of the fire, while authorities were providing temporary shelter for evacuees in sports halls and hotels.
The police department said 380 police officers with 77 vehicles, 36 motorcycles, three buses and four vans were assisting in evacuations, and by mid-morning had helped move more than 250 people away from the path of the flames. It posted a video on its social media channels showing police officers carrying elderly people in their arms out of houses and to waiting vehicles, against a backdrop of a night sky turned red from the flames and smoke.
At least 17 water-bombing aircraft and 15 helicopters have been deployed to try to stop the flames from spreading further east.
At least ten towns and villages have been evacuated and a further four suburbs in the affluent region north of Athens remain on standby for residents to leave.
The government said it had also mobilised the military to join in the operation to shield Europe’s oldest capital from the rapidly spreading fire.
While forest fires are common in Greece, the risk is increasing because of the effects of climate change. Last year authorities ordered the biggest evacuation of tourists in living memory on the holiday island of Rhodes.
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After experiencing its hottest winter on record, Greece has been gripped with record high temperatures this summer.
“What makes the situation so dangerous is the prolonged drought and very high temperatures that have lasted for so long,” said Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the National Observatory of Athens.
Hundreds of wildfires have broken out across Greece since May and scientists attribute their frequency and intensity to the increasingly hot and dry weather conditions linked to global warming.
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More than half the country remains on high-risk alert and strong winds, which can fan the flames, show no sign of easing soon.
The fire department appealed to residents to follow evacuation orders issued by civil protection, with the authorities noting that some people who had refused to leave their homes became trapped and needed to be rescued, endangering the lives of firefighters.
“During the night, the wind remained strong, creating dangerous situations,” said Vathrakogiannis. “Unfortunately their intensity is expected to increase in the coming hours, and in any case citizens of the areas where the fire is developing must follow the directions of authorities.”
The European Union said on Monday that four countries would send firefighters to Greece.
“The EU civil protection mechanism was activated upon request of the Greek authorities,” the EU spokesman Balazs Ujvari said in a statement, adding that Italy, France, the Czech Republic and Romania were sending units to help.
Gerald Darmanin, the French interior minister, said the country would contribute 55 trucks and a helicopter to the firefighting efforts.