Athens woke up Wednesday August 4 in thick smoke and the pungent smell of the fire which broke out the day before north of the Greek capital, at the foot of Mount Parnes, which the firefighters hoped to control "
in the next hours
”.
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A dozen houses burned down and dozens of businesses, taverns and homes suffered extensive damage Tuesday afternoon and overnight in Varympompi, 30 km northwest of Athens, according to initial estimates by the authorities. .
Varympompi, where Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited on Wednesday morning, no longer looked like a ghost village emptied of its inhabitants, noted an AFP videographer.
More than 300 people had been evacuated from this locality and two other neighboring villages.
Wednesday morning, "
the situation is better and we hope that the fire will be brought under control in the coming hours
", announced the press service of the firefighters.
More than 500 firefighters with five helicopters and dozens of the water bombers were still at work Wednesday morning.
An exceptional heat wave
The fire broke out on Tuesday afternoon as Greece has been hit for a week by an exceptional heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 43 degrees Celsius in places.
Read also: The unexpected cost of heatwaves
After Mount Penteli last week, it was Mount Parnes, the second of three hills that border Athens, which was on fire on Tuesday, spreading ash and smoke over the Greek capital.
Police said they had helped nearly 70 people who were stranded in their homes in communities surrounded by flames.
Nearly 200 horses that were in equestrian centers in the area have been moved unharmed, according to the Greek Riding Confederation.
Varympompi is located near the ancient royal palace of Tatoï, from where precious works have been sheltered as a precaution.
As of Tuesday, Greece had been confronted with nearly 80 fires, including 40 still active, according to the Deputy Minister for Civil Protection, Nikos Hardalias. At least two other forest fires, on the Peloponnese peninsula and on the island of Euboea, were not yet contained on Wednesday, according to firefighters.
