Thousands are forced to flee wildfires in residential suburbs of Athens - after days of blazes in Turkey left at least eight dead
Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes near Athens as wildfires moved closer to the Greek capital.
Authorities in Greece closed the Acropolis and other ancient sites during afternoon hours on Tuesday as temperatures reached 45C.
It comes as wildfires raging in neighbouring Turkey for a seventh day have left at least eight dead. France, Italy and Albania are also battling blazes.
A forest fire broke out on Tuesday in Dekelia, north of Athens, cutting a section of the main motorway between Athens to northern and southern Greece, officials said, as the nation reels under a severe heatwave.
Greece is grappling with the worst heatwave in decades that strained the national power supply and caused forest fires to break out.
Thousands of people fled their homes north of Athens on Tuesday after the wildfire reached residential areas and send a huge cloud of smoke over Athens.
There were multiple evacuations near Tatoi, 20km to the north and residents left their homes in cars and on motorcycles, heading toward the capital amid a blanket of smoke.
Civil Protection chief Nikos Hardalias said the fire north of Athens was 'very dangerous,' and had been exacerbated by strong winds and tinder-dry conditions due to the heat that reached 45 Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in the area.
'We continue to fight hour by hour, with our top priority being to save human lives,' Hardalias said. 'We will do so all night.'
'These are crucial hours,' Hardalias said. 'Our country is undergoing one of the worst heatwaves of the past 40 years.'
GREECE: Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes near Athens as wildfires moved closer to the Greek capital
GREECE: A forest fire broke out on Tuesday in Dekelia, north of Athens, cutting a section of the main motorway between Athens to northern and southern Greece, officials said, as the nation reels under a severe heatwave
GREECE: There were multiple evacuations near Tatoi, 20km to the north and residents left their homes in cars and on motorcycles, heading toward the capital amid a blanket of smoke
GREECE: Civil Protection chief Nikos Hardalias said the fire north of Athens was 'very dangerous,' and had been exacerbated by strong winds and tinder-dry conditions due to the heat that reached 45 Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in the area
The wind dropped later Tuesday, and the regional governor for greater Athens, Giorgos Patoulis, said this could allow the fire to be tamed after water-dropping aircraft resume operations at first light Wednesday.
'If the winds don't grow it can be brought under control by the early morning so the planes can provide the final solution,' he told state ERT TV.
As the flames approached their homes, residents were seen running to their cars, faces covered with dampened cloths to protect them from the heavy smoke.
One group stopped to help staff from a riding school push their horses into trucks to escape the flames.
Fire crews went house to house to ensure that evacuation orders were carried out.
As the heat wave scorching the eastern Mediterranean intensified, temperatures reached 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 Fahrenheit) in parts of the Greek capital.
Wildfires also raged in other parts of Greece, prompting evacuations in a coastal area of the southern Peloponnese region as well as on the islands of Evia and Kos, authorities said.
The fires prompted Greek basketball star Giannis Antetokounmpo to cancel celebrations planned in Athens for the NBA championship he won recently with the Milwaukee Bucks.
'We hope there are no victims from these fires, and of course we will postpones today's celebration,' Antetokounmpo wrote in a tweet.
GREECE: There were multiple evacuations near Athens after a wildfire broke out in Dekelia on Tuesday and reached residential areas as temperatures reached 42C in parts of the Greek capital
GREECE: Flames burn on the mountain near Limni village on the island of Evia, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Athens on Tuesday as Greece grappled with the worst heatwave in decades that strained the national power supply
GREECE: Flames burn on the mountain near Limni village on the island of Evia, about 160km north of Athens as Greece grappled with the worst heatwave in decades that strained the national power supply
Earlier, authorities closed the Acropolis and other ancient sites during afternoon hours. The site, which is normally open in the summer from 8am until 8pm, will have reduced hours through Friday, closing between midday and 5pm.
As night fell, more than 500 firefighters battled the blaze on the lower slopes of Mount Parnitha, assisted by nine helicopters, seven aircraft and 305 police in a densely vegetated area in the suburbs of Varympopi and Adames.
'It is a difficult day for the country, we had 81 forest fires in the last 24 hours due to the extreme weather conditions,' Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias told reporters.
The blaze north of Athens had three main fronts at the towns of Varympopi, Adames and Thrakomakedones, scorching homes and cars and forcing residents to flee.
Authorities had removed valuables at the former royal estate at Tatoi nearby and the civil protection service ordered residents of the Olympic Village to leave their homes. They could stay at designated hotels at the state's expense.
Seven people were taken to hospital with breathing problems.
Earlier, children were evacuated from a summer camp and residents were ordered out of their homes in the suburbs of Varympopi, Adames and Thrakomakedones, some 20 km north of central Athens.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited a fire brigade operations centre coordinating efforts to contain the blaze and other fires, in the Peloponnese Peninsula and on the islands of Evia and Kos.
'All available means and resources have been deployed in the fight on multiple fronts,' his office said in a statement. 'In these difficult times, the priority is to protect human lives.'
In Athens, the power grid operator IPTO said the fire had damaged parts of the grid, posing a major risk to the electricity supply in parts of the metropolitan region.
'Dozens of homes are being burnt,' Michalis Vrettos, deputy mayor of the Acharnes region, told Open TV as thick plumes of smoke rose over the houses behind him.
The extreme heat, described by authorities as the worst in Greece since 1987, has strained the national power supply, disrupted train services, and fuelled the wildfires.
The national grid operator said the power supply to part of the capital was 'endangered' after part of the transmission system, damaged and threatened by the fires, was shut down.
Five water-dropping planes and five helicopters were involved in the firefighting effort near Athens, including a Beriev Be-200 amphibious aircraft leased from Russia. The blaze damaged electricity pylons, adding further strain on the electricity network already under pressure due to the widespread use of air conditioning.
The Greek Fire Service maintained an alert for most of the country for Tuesday and Wednesday, while public and some private services shifted operating hours to allow for afternoon closures.
GREECE: Greece grappled with the worst heatwave in decades that strained the national power supply and caused forest fires to break out. Pictured: Smoke from a wildfire spreads over Athens
GREECE: An airplane drops water during a wildfire that broke out in Tatoi, northern Athens, Greece, on Tuesday. The Greek Fire Service maintained an alert for most of the country on Tuesday
GREECE: Thousands of people fled their homes (pictured in Tatoi) north of Athens on Tuesday after the wildfire reached residential areas and send a huge cloud of smoke over Athens
GREECE: There were multiple evacuations near Tatoi, 20km to the north and residents left their homes in cars and on motorcycles, heading toward the capital amid a blanket of smoke (pictured over Athens)
Meanwhile, neighbouring Turkey is battling its 'worst fires in living memory' as infernos raging across the country's south entered their sixth consecutive day today - with no end to the crisis in sight.
Worst-hit are the provinces of Antalya and Mugla - which contain the popular tourist resorts of Marmaris and Side - where swathes of forest have been destroyed - leaving eight dead, and forcing locals and travellers to evacuate.
Nine fires are still burning in those two provinces, forestry officials said today, fanned by strong winds and fed on timber dried to a crisp by a 40C heatwave. Such is the extent of the damage, they were unable to estimate how many acres had been destroyed.
Smaller fires were also burning in Adana and Isparta as critics hit out at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accusing him of leaving the country unprepared for the crisis and of failing to reach out to western countries for help sooner.
Help is now on the way with water-carrying planes sent from Spain, Croatia and Ukraine headed to assist after it emerged Turkey did not have any of its own.
Celebrities and regional ministers have also appealed for help on social media.
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TURKEY: Two men fight a desperate battle against flames engulfing woodland in Turkey's Antalya province, where fires have now been burning for six days and show no signs of stopping
TURKEY: Forestry officials have described the fires as Turkey's worst 'in living memory' and were unable to even estimate the extent of the destructions they have caused
TURKEY: A car drives through smoke-filled skies and past firefighters who are trying to douse nine blazes across Turkey's Antalya and Mugla provinces, where at least eight people have died and dozens have been injured
TURKEY: A man flees from flames during efforts to extinguish nine fires in southern Turkey that have been raging for six days, fed on tinder-dry vegetation and fanned by strong winds
TURKEY: A woman at a resort on Turkey's southern coast watches as flames get closer to the beach. Hundreds of locals and tourists have already been forced to evacuate as the fires rip through woodland
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A senior forestry official described the fires as the worst in living memory, saying it is impossible to tell how long it will take to put out the flames as patches that had previously been brought under control were reignited by winds.
As residents lost homes and livestock, anger turned towards the government, which admitted it did not have a firefighting aircraft fleet and that existing planes were not in a usable condition.
Opposition parties accused the government of failing to procure firefighting planes while channelling funds for construction projects they say are harmful to the environment.
Mr Erdogan's government has also been accused of compromising firefighting efforts by refusing help from some nations, including rival Greece, during the early stages of the blazes.
Agriculture and forestry minister Bekir Pakdemirli rejected the accusation, saying the government had only refused offers of planes whose water-dumping capacities were less than five tons.
The Israeli embassy said Israel had also offered to help but Turkish officials had refused, saying the 'situation is under control'.
A tree is engulfed by flames as wildfires rip through the south of Turkey, causing devastation so widespread that officials are unable to estimate its true scale
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Turkey had accepted all offers meeting its needs. France and Greece offered to send fire-dumping planes but were later forced to retract them due to domestic fires, he said.
'In times of disaster, we would of course accept assistance from other countries in the same way that we provide assistance to other countries,' he said.
Local mayors posted videos pleading for responses to wildfires in their areas while celebrities joined a social media campaign requesting foreign help.
The campaign drew an angry response from a senior Erdogan aide, Fahrettin Altun, who said: 'Our Turkey is strong. Our state is standing strong.'
In the village of Bozalan, in Mugla province, where homes and olive trees were incinerated, residents complained that the government's response was inadequate.
'Our fire-extinguishing helicopters were insufficient,' said 58-year-old Mahmut Sanli. 'If there was a firefighting crew in our neighbourhood, this wouldn't have happened.'
Nevzat Yildirim, 30, said he had called authorities in Mugla pleading for help but 'nothing came'.
'We tried to protect our own homes through our own means, by filling up buckets. We organised ourselves with neighbours, youths and saved our homes,' he said.
In the nearby village of Cokertme, Gulseli Karaduman was seen using a fire extinguisher to save her olive trees.
'There has been no air support, nothing. For three days we've been living with this helplessness,' she said.
Fed by strong winds and scorching temperatures, the fires that began last Wednesday have left eight people dead and forced thousands of residents and tourists to flee homes.
Firefighters are still tackling nine fires in the coastal provinces of Antalya and Mugla which are popular tourist destinations. Other active fires were reported in the provinces of Adana and Isparta.
In all, 137 fires that broke out in more than 30 provinces have been put out, while total of 16 planes, 51 helicopters and more than 5,000 personnel were involved in tackling the fires, officials said.
Charred and blackened trees have replaced some of the pine-coated hills in Turkey's Turquoise Coast while many villagers lost homes and livestock.
Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey's main opposition party, accused Erdogan of lacking a 'master plan' to prevent and tackle forest fires and of ignoring warnings concerning global warming.
'We need to start preparing our country for new climate crises immediately. Our country is in the midst of a climate and water crisis,' he said.
Fire-dumping planes from Russia, Iran and Azerbaijan are already at work in the country. A total of 16 planes, 51 helicopters and more than 5,000 personnel were tackling the fires, officials said.
Health minister Fahrettin Koca said 36 people in Mugla and 11 people in Antalya were being treated in hospitals for fire-related injuries.
Authorities have launched investigations into the cause of the fires, including possible sabotage by Kurdish militants, but experts mostly point to climate change, along with accidents caused by people.
Health minister Fahrettin Koca said 36 people in Mugla and 11 people in Antalya were being treated in hospitals for fire-related injuries.
A heatwave across southern Europe, fed by hot air from North Africa, has led to wildfires across the Mediterranean, including in Italy and Greece.
In Italy, the head of the civil protection agency, Fabrizio Curcio, described wildfires affecting much of central and southern Italy as 'dramatic'.
Firefighters on Tuesday were fighting seven major blazes in Calabria, Sicily, Basilicata and Puglia, employing aircraft near Matera, in Basilicata and around three fires in Calabria.
GREECE: The extreme heat, described by authorities as the worst in Greece since 1987, has strained the national power supply and fuelled the wildfires (pictured over Athens)
GREECE: Earlier, authorities closed the Acropolis and other ancient sites during afternoon hours. The site, which is normally open in the summer from 8am to 8pm, will have reduced hours through Friday, closing between midday and 5pm
GREECE: Volunteer firefighters try to extinguish a wildfire close to beehives at Varympompi suburb north of Athens on Tuesday
GREECE: Authorities described the heatwave as the most intense in more than 30 years. Pictured: An airplane drops water during a wildfire that broke out in Tatoi, northern Athens
GREECE: Flames burn through a forest area during a wildfire that broke out in Tatoi, northern Athens on Tuesday
GREECE: The national grid operator said the power supply to part of the capital was 'endangered' after part of the transmission system, damaged and threatened by the fires, was shut down. Pictured: Flames burn in Tatoi, northern Athens
GREECE: The Fire Service maintained an alert for most of the country on Tuesday, while public and some private services shifted operating hours to allow for afternoon closures. Pictured: A helicopter drops water during a wildfire in Tatoi
GREECE: The wildfire that broke out in a forest in Varybobi on Tuesday spread quickly due to the dry conditions. There are 350 fire-fighters with 70 vehicles, 10 teams of fire fighters on foot and five helicopters and five aircrafts deployed
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