The summer wildfire season in Greece this year has seen daily blazes after the Mediterranean country recorded its warmest winter and the hottest June and July since reliable data collection began in 1960.
Temperatures around Athens are forecast to peak at 39 degrees Celsius on Monday, with wind gusts of up to 50km per hour.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cut short his holiday and returned to Athens on Sunday because of the crisis.
More than 670 firefighters with 183 vehicles and 32 aircraft were battling the blaze, the spokesman said.
“FIRE NEAR YOU”
“Forest fire near you. Follow the instructions of the authorities,” said SMS messages sent to people in the Attica region, indicating in which direction to flee.
Marathon’s 7,000 residents were told to head for the coastal town of Neak Makri.
“We are facing a biblical catastrophe,” said Marathon’s mayor, Stergios Tsirkas. “Our whole town is engulfed in flames and going through difficult times,” he told the Skai television channel.
Firefighters on Sunday battled to put out 33 of the 40 blazes that had broken out in the past 24 hours.
But the force was battling seven more in the high summer heat, the fire brigade spokesman said on Sunday.
“Everything is burning,” said Giorgos Tsevas, a farmer in Polydendri village which was engulfed on Sunday.
“I have 200 olive trees there but now they are gone,” the 48-year-old said.
Source: CNA
