Greece, savaged by a heatwave that ravaged parts of Europe, deployed planes and helicopters early Wednesday to try to prevent wildfires from spreading to the hillside suburbs north of Athens.
Nearly 500 firefighters, 120 vehicles, three planes and four helicopters were deployed from dawn to battle the blazes from approaching areas like Gerakas, where about 29,000 people live.
The heatwave – the second to sweep parts of Europe in recent weeks – has contributed to deadly wildfires in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain and devastated vast swaths of land.
The forest fires at the foot of Mount Penteli north of Athens were fanned overnight by constantly changing winds, a spokesman for the fire department said on Wednesday.
“It makes our job of putting out the flames difficult,” he said.
As a precaution, residents of several areas, a children’s hospital and the national observatory in Athens were evacuated.
Traffic has been halted on parts of a ring road around Athens, the company that manages it said on Twitter.
Greece has set up a crisis cell and firefighters have been battling 117 wildfires in the country in the past 24 hours.
She has called on European countries to send firefighters. A heat wave and wildfires destroyed 103,000 hectares (255,000 acres) last year and claimed three lives.
#Greece #planes #fight #forest #fires #Athens
