A massive wildfire on Tuesday continued to burn more forest and residential areas on the outskirts of the historical city of Athens – threatening several neighbourhoods and rendering thousands unable to breathe properly in the Greek capital.
The area claimed by this year’s worst wildfire in Greece is so vast that it can accommodate four airports like Delhi’s or almost half of UP’s industrial city of Noida, as per an India Today analysis of satellite imagery.
Images captured by US Earth-imaging firm Planet Lab PBC on Monday, August 12, showed the wildfire had burned more than 22,600 acres of land. Since then, it has claimed more land.
The blaze started on Sunday near Lake Marathon, about 35 kilometers northeast of Athens, coursed across Mount Pendeli, and reached the capital’s picturesque suburbs in the north – burning several homes and businesses.
Hundreds of firefighters backed by fire engines and waterbombing aircraft battled the blaze that torched homes, vehicles, and swathes of bone-dry forest.
It choked Athens city with smoke and ash, stirring panic in neighbourhoods that had not seen such a fire so close to the centre in decades, Reuters reported.
One person was found dead in Vrilissia, around 14 km from central Athens, as per authorities.
The cause of the wildfire was not yet determined.
Greece will remain on high alert until Thursday with expected strong winds and temperatures forecast to reach up to 40 degrees Celsius.
Local media reported that a rapid increase in PM2.5 particles made air that was “hazardous to human health”. The atmosphere in southern Athens was reported as “suffocating”, with values exceeding 200 micrograms per cubic meter. The problem was exacerbated by strong gusts that brought smoke more than 300 kilometers from its source, as per the European meteorological satellite Meteosat-11.
Local newspaper Proto Thema said the fire damage spanned 100 square kilometers and included 100 homes.
More than 30 areas were forced to evacuate, along with at least three hospitals, with power cuts in parts of the wider Athens region. Passenger ferries heading to the port of Rafina northeast of the capital were diverted.
Wildfires have been a common feature of Greek summers for years, but climate change has brought hotter weather and less rain, ideal conditions for large-scale fires.
The southern European country experienced its warmest winter on record this year and was on track for its hottest summer, with scant rain in many areas for months. The worsening situation was mirrored across southern Europe, including in Spain and the Balkans.
