Greece wildfires spread towards Athens infographic
Graphic shows active fires near Athens.
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Crews battle scattered fires in Athens suburbs

August 13, 2024 - Firefighters are hoping to contain a major wildfire that burned into the suburbs of the Greek capital Athens, triggering evacuations and leaving at least one person dead.

With strong winds that had fanned the flames on Sunday and Monday dying down overnight, the fire department said the fire no longer had any active, advancing fronts and firefighters were concentrating their efforts on extinguishing the flames in hundreds of slow-burning areas. Reinforcements of water-dropping aircraft and firefighters were expected to arrive from other countries after Greece requested assistance from Europe’s joint disaster response mechanism.

Authorities were racing to extinguish as much of the blaze as possible ahead of Tuesday afternoon, when winds were predicted to pick up again, with a forecast of gusts reaching up to 60-70 kilometres (37-43 miles) per hour, AP said.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 13/08/2024; STORY: Graphic News
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