Forest fires are raging in several cities in Greece. Residents are being evacuated while some of the homes are being engulfed in flames.
Updated less than 20 minutes ago
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CNN reports a fire on Tuesday night i Drafi, Anthousa, Dioni og Dasamari.
At 17.19 local time, the first reports came that the houses in Drafi were engulfed in flames. At 20:00, the inhabitants of the remaining three cities must have been ordered by emergency services to evacuate immediately.
Residents in nearby areas have been told to be ready for evacuation should an order come, according to Reuters.
At least two places on the outskirts of Athens are to be evacuated after a powerful forest fire on Mount Penteli on Tuesday. It reports Reuters.
A lot of smoke must have been observed over the Penteli area where the forest fire broke out.
–According to Reuters, 78 firefighters will assist with 22 fire engines and 16 firefighting planes and helicopters to control the fire. All traffic leading to Penteli must be stopped.
–According to the Greek newspaper ANA-MPA News a children’s hospital near Penteli has been evacuated. There will be 36 children and 19 employees.
– It has happened before
Kristin Hoem Ovesen who is on holiday in Athens in Khalandri with a friend. Tuesday night it is nice and quiet where they are, but that they have both seen and smelled the smoke. For the time being, however, they choose to stay in the city.
–– In the area we are in, there is no danger of fire right now because the wind is blowing away from us and towards the fire.
Ovesen says that local residents they have been in contact with have seemed quite calm, and this has contributed to them choosing to stay in Athens.
–– Those who work here have told us that it has happened before and that they are not so stressed. But there is a fairly large fire and people are being evacuated. We were a little stressed when the warnings came, but even though we are quite close to the fire, people are quite calm.
She adds that at first it was difficult to understand how serious the situation was.
–Furthermore, Ovesen tells VG that the emergency services in Greece have very good routines for disseminating information.
– Whether you are a local or a tourist, you will in any case receive a clear message on your mobile that you must evacuate immediately if you are in certain places, she concludes.
–Forest fires have been a problem in Greece for a long time, and no later than two weeks ago there was one threatened one of Greece’s largest olive grovesAmphissa.
Also last year, forest fires caused great damage in Greece when the country experienced its worst heat wave in 30 years. Then about 121,000 hectares of shrubs and forests must have burned, writes Reuters.
It is almost four years since the fire that claimed at least 103 lives in Mati on the east coast of Greece, according to The Guardian.
Then several are said to have tried to escape from the flames in the sea but drowned. In another case, the Red Cross found 26 charred bodies found in clusters, because the people must have embraced each other when they understood that the end was near.
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