Communities evacuated amid wildfire near Athens as heatwave hits Greece

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>A large wildfire has broken out south of Athens&comma; prompting authorities to send phone alerts urging the evacuation of five communities near the blaze as temperatures approached 40C in Greece’s first heatwave of the summer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>About two dozen water-dropping planes and helicopters were providing air support to 130 firefighters battling the blaze in the Palaia Fokaia seaside area south of Athens&comma; the fire department said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The fire&comma; which reportedly broke out within a populated area&comma; was fanned by strong winds&comma; sending plumes of smoke fanning out across the sky&period; Television footage showed at least one home burning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Local mayor Dimitris Loukas said on Greece’s state-run ERT television that several houses were believed to have been damaged by the blaze&comma; but added that exact information on property destruction was not immediately available&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The coastguard said two patrol boats and nine private vessels were on standby in the Palaia Fokaia area in case an evacuation by sea became necessary&comma; while a lifeboat was also on its way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’re telling people to leave their homes&comma;” local town councillor Apostolos Papadakis said on ERT&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Parts of the coastal road connecting Athens to Sounion&comma; location of the ancient temple of Poseidon and a major tourist attraction&comma; were closed&comma; with people urged to take other routes to evacuate the area&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said 40 people had been evacuated by police&comma; while evacuation orders were issued for a total of five areas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The cause of the fire was not immediately known&comma; but the fire department spokesman said that an arson investigation unit had been sent to the area&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The entire wider Athens area&comma; as well as several Aegean islands&comma; were on level four of a five-level scale for the danger of wildfires due to the weather conditions&comma; with the heatwave expected to last until the weekend&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Earlier in the week&comma; hundreds of firefighters took four days to bring a major wildfire under control on the eastern Aegean island of Chios&period; More than a dozen evacuation orders had been issued for Chios&comma; where the flames devoured forest and farmland&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The fire department said one woman had been arrested on suspicion of having contributed to that fire’s start — reportedly by discarding a cigarette&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Wildfires are frequent in Greece during its hot&comma; dry summers&period; In 2018&comma; a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati&comma; east of Athens&comma; trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee&period; More than 100 died&comma; including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Get your free copy below<&sol;strong>&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2025&sol;03&sol;London-Glossy-Spring-2025-Digital&period;pdf">London Glossy Spring 2025 &&num;8211&semi; Digital<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<div style&equals;"position&colon;relative&semi;padding-top&colon;max&lpar;60&percnt;&comma;326px&rpar;&semi;height&colon;0&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;"><iframe allow&equals;"clipboard-write" sandbox&equals;"allow-top-navigation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation allow-downloads allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-modals allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-forms" allowfullscreen&equals;"true" style&equals;"position&colon;absolute&semi;border&colon;none&semi;width&colon;100&percnt;&semi;height&colon;100&percnt;&semi;left&colon;0&semi;right&colon;0&semi;top&colon;0&semi;bottom&colon;0&semi;" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;e&period;issuu&period;com&sol;embed&period;html&quest;d&equals;london&lowbar;glossy&lowbar;spring&lowbar;2025&lowbar;-&lowbar;digital&&num;038&semi;u&equals;londonglossymag"><&sol;iframe><&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68e64b80e2246">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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