Firefighters in Greece battle blazes fanned by gale force winds

ATHENS: Hundreds of firefighters struggled to contain wildfires fanned by gale force winds in several parts of Greece on Monday as authorities warned most regions faced a high risk of new blazes.

More than 200 firefighters backed by 17 aircraft were battling a wildfire burning for the third day near the northern port city of Alexandroupolis, where 13 communities were evacuated as a precaution since the fire broke out on Saturday, the fire brigade said.

Cyprus said it was sending two firefighting aircraft. “We are in a state of alert, as we will be tomorrow, due to very high temperatures and gale force winds,” fire brigade spokes­person Yannis Artopios said.

“We are facing extreme phenomena,” he said.

A man was found dead in a wildfire raging north of the Greek capital Athens on Monday, firefighters said. “An old shepherd ran to his sheepfold to save the animals and was retrieved dead,” a spokesman from the fire brigade said in Boeotia, about 100 kilometres north of Athens.

People on a beach and in two communities near the fire were told to evacuate. Around 60 firefighters assisted by four water-bombing planes were battling the flames, another official from the fire service said.

Summer wildfires in Greece are common but have been made worse in recent years by unusually hot, dry, and windy conditions which scientists have linked to climate change.

More than 20,000 foreign tourists had to be evacuated from the holiday island of Rhodes in July as wildfires burned for a week, destroying hotels and resorts.