Violent wildfires curbed near Athens, as hundreds of firefighters battle blazes and European countries send help

(LONDON) — Hundreds of firefighters battled dozens of wildfires into submission in Greece over an about 40-hour period, a “superhuman effort” that had been paired with a “rapid operational response” to slow fast-moving blazes that threatened Athens, officials said.

“Forty hours after the extremely dangerous wildfire broke out in Varnavas, we can now say that there is no active front, only scattered hotspots,” Vassilis Kikilias, the Greek climate minister, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Firefighters detected and fought some 44 wild blazes in the 24 hours leading up to Monday evening, curbing all but eight of them in their “initial stage,” the Greek Fire Service said in a release late Monday.

The wildfires, which arrived amid extreme heat, had been cropping up throughout the country since at least Saturday, European officials said.

Greek officials, who said an “outbreak” began Sunday, asked the European Commission for help battling the fires on Monday, according to a notice published by the Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre.

Greek authorities said Tuesday that two minors were arrested for allegedly setting an intentional fire in a forest area in the country’s Attica region, where some wildfires have been raging.

Hundreds of firefighters had been working to stop fast-moving wildfires Monday near Athens, with tens of thousands of people under evacuation orders in the region, emergency officials said. Those fires burned some 6,600 hectares, or about 25 square miles, in the East Attica region, European officials said.

Government officials warned of heightened risk for fire in several areas, including the Athens peninsula and the region north of it. The fire risk category in those areas had been raised to “extreme,” weather officials said in a statement released Sunday.

Those fires burned in a “rugged” location, where firefighters had to navigate mountains, forests and villages, Kikilias said Tuesday.

“This is the reality: despite the rapid operational response — the new doctrine combined with technological support from drones, which has been applied to hundreds of wildfires throughout the summer — when extreme conditions prevail, the problem becomes insurmountable,” he said.

But calmer winds had helped firefighters near Athens get the upper hand on a number of fires burning in the suburbs. Those winds were expected to pick on Tuesday evening.

In the next 48 hours, “the fire danger forecast is expected from high to very extreme across most of central Greece,” the Emergency Response Coordination Centre said.

European countries were sending assistance, including firefighters and vehicles. Italy was sending two planes, and France was sending a helicopter, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said on Monday. Teams of firefighters were on their way from Czechia and Romania, she said.

Temperatures near Athens were expected to climb on Tuesday to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with daily highs expected to be over 95 degrees for the remainder of the week, according to the Hellenic National Meteorological Center.

Dozens of blazes were burning Monday along the edges of a fire that broke out in Varnavas on Sunday afternoon, Col. Vassilios Vathrakogiannis, of the country’s fire service, said in a statement on Monday.

More than 700 firefighters and nearly 200 vehicles were working with the Civil Protection agencies, he said. Eighteen helicopters and 17 other firefighting aircraft had been in use since the Varnavas blaze began spreading.

Kikilias, the climate minister, said the people in towns north of Athens knew that “the firefighters, the Police, the Local Government, the volunteers, and the Army were there, fighting with superhuman efforts to prevent worse consequences.”

“These same firefighters have been working throughout the summer, extinguishing one fire after another,” he said.

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