Athens, Jul. 24, (dpa/GNA) – Greek firefighters on Monday were battling blazes in a total of 64 regions of the country, with the fires forcing tens of thousands of tourists in the holiday islands of Rhodes and Corfu to be evacuated.
The fire danger remains extremely high. This applies to the region of Greater Athens, the Peloponnese peninsula and many islands in the Aegean Sea, the Greek Civil Defence warned on Monday.
It added that the high-risk situation is expected to remain in the coming days.
The worst fires raged on the island of Rhodes and the island of Euboea on Monday.
On Rhodes, a large fire raged for the seventh day in a row. There, some 20,000 people from the south-east of the island had been brought to safety on Saturday in one of Greece’s largest-ever evacuation operations.
On the island of Corfu, in the north-west of the country, a forest fire was brought under control on Monday.
During the night, the local authorities had taken precautionary measures to evacuate some 1,000 tourists and 1,500 residents.
Coast guard boats brought the holidaymakers and residents to safety, state television reported.
Firefighting planes and helicopters were deployed at first light on Monday to all the fire grounds, according to the Civil Defence.
Fire crews from Turkey and Egypt were deployed to reinforce Greek firefighting crews. Strong winds continue to fan the flames, according to a spokesman for the fire brigade.
The first fires began near Athens on Monday last week, amid a heatwave and strong winds.
For the first time in almost two weeks, meteorologists in Greece announced a cooling period set to being on Thursday.
Temperatures are expected to drop to around 35 degrees Celsius, which is normal for the time of year. On Sunday, 46.4 degrees was measured in the south of the Peloponnese peninsula. This was the fourth-highest temperature ever recorded in Greece, the meteorological office reported.
But before the cooler temperatures arrive, there will be one last hot day with up to 46 degrees on Wednesday, weather experts said.
The cooling will be the result of strong northerly winds, and Civil Defence warned that forest fires could rage out of control again because of these strong winds.
GNA