Hundreds of fires are raging in Greece.
The historic site of Olympia is also affected.
Rescue forces assume arson.
Olympia - For about a week, extreme weather has prevailed in southern Europe.
The temperatures are over 40 degrees.
Turkey and Greece in particular are struggling with severe forest fires.
Now a new fire has broken out on the Greek Peloponnese peninsula.
It also endangers the historic sites of Olympia.
The Olympic flame is still lit there before the games.
Emergency services try to save human lives and the historical sites.
Forest fires in Greece: seven fires in eight hours - presumption of arson confirmed?
On Wednesday afternoon (August 4), the Greek civil defense asked the residents of the Olympics by SMS to leave the place.
"We have sent all our emergency services to Olympia to save human lives and our ancient tradition," said the mayor of Pyrgos to the broadcaster Open.
"Seven fires broke out within eight hours" around Olympia, said the head of the Greek community service, Nikos Chardalias, on.
He confirmed the suspicions of the residents, after which it could be arson.
Reporters on site reported that the ancient site's own extinguishing system had been activated.
Water cannons sprayed everything around and in Olympia.
The city had already been the victim of devastating fires in 2007.
Dozens of people died in this region in the western Peloponnese.
The ancient site was badly damaged.
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The fires are raging near Olympia in Greece, as they are in all of southern Europe.
© STR / Eurokinissi / AFP
Forest fires in Greece: Fire also in the Athens area - "The flames are 30 to 40 meters high"
The emergency services are also fighting the flames in the area of the capital.
Some suburbs of Athens have already been evacuated.
The smoke reached the capital and clouded the sky over the Acropolis.
On the island of Evia, north of Athens, a fire got out of control, destroyed several villages and threatened a monastery.
"The flames are 30 to 40 meters high and have surrounded the monastery," said one of the monks by phone to the Greek news agency ANA.
"We almost suffocate from the smoke." Three monks had refused to leave the monastery.
The mayor of a village on the island spoke of "at least 150 burned houses".
According to other information, a total of 161 fires have broken out across Greece in the last 24 hours.
Forest fires all over southern Europe: The fires are also starting to spread in Bulgaria
The whole of the Mediterranean is affected.
In addition to Greece, Turkey, Italy and Croatia are also groaning under the worst heat wave in 30 years and the associated forest fires.
In Bulgaria, on the border with Greece, two forest workers died while putting out a new major fire.
In addition, two other major fires flared up in southern Bulgaria, as the media reported in Sofia on Wednesday evening.
(chd / dpa / AFP)
List of rubric lists: © STR / Eurokinissi / AFP