Greece: firefighters fight against two worrying fires in Olympia and Evia

Firefighters continued on Thursday to fight, in scorching temperatures, two worrying fires in western and eastern Greece, in Olympia and on the island of Euboea, where pine forests were engulfed in impressive flames .

Read also: Greece: firefighters try to control a major fire near Athens

In Kourkouli, one of the 15 Euboean villages evacuated as a precaution, thick yellow smoke completely covered the top of the mountain while the water bombers and helicopters tirelessly continued their fight against the fire.

"

A titanic effort on several fronts

"

Greece has been facing, for a week, dozens of fires under the effect of the "

worst heatwave

" in more than thirty years, according to its Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, with temperatures oscillating between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius.

"

We are making a titanic effort on several fronts

", summed up Greek Deputy Minister of Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias on Wednesday evening.

Read also: Greece in flames, the soil of Turkey and Cyprus at over 50 ° C

The fire that broke out on Tuesday at the gates of Athens continued to mobilize firefighters on Thursday, after destroying nearly 1,250 hectares of pine forest.

A worrying resumption of fire forced the evacuation of two villages, according to public television ERT.

Like Tuesday, acrid smoke spread Thursday afternoon over the capital, where the air quality was already highly degraded, according to the Athens National Observatory.

A preliminary investigation was opened Thursday by the prosecutor to determine the origin of this fire, at the foot of Mount Parnès, in particular after the publication of testimonies affirming that the fire would have started from the explosion of a factory of the company public electricity.

The surroundings of Ancient Olympia evacuated

Significant aid was also deployed near the village of Ancient Olympia to protect the archaeological site where the first Olympic Games were held in antiquity, to the west of the Peloponnese peninsula.

The village of Ancient Olympia, usually crowded with tourists at this time of year, as well as six other nearby towns had been evacuated the day before.

Read also: Greece: firefighters try to control a major fire near Athens

After having burned about twenty houses, "

the fire front is now heading towards the area of ​​Lala

", a mountainous forest area, northeast of the ancient site, declared Thursday morning the prefect Nektarios Farmakis, questioned by the agency. Greek press ANA.

The Prime Minister, on the spot Thursday, underlined "

the need for studies to be carried out as quickly as possible to avoid new disasters

".

Thursday morning, more than 170 firefighters, helped by about fifty vehicles and six helicopters and water bombers, were still fighting.

Uncontrollable fire on the island of Evia

Equivalent forces were deployed on the huge island of Euboea, 200 km east of Athens, the scene of a violent and uncontrolled fire which took hold on Tuesday on mountainous and wooded terrain, dried up by the heat.

To fight the blaze, some 500 firefighters helped by around forty planes and helicopters were to arrive as reinforcements, according to the head of the armed forces Konstantinos Floros.

After Cyprus and Sweden, the French civil security announced the departure of 40 rescuers and eight tons of equipment, which were to arrive Thursday evening in Euboea.

Hundreds of houses have already burned down on the island as well as more than 25,000 hectares of pine forest.

According to the mayor of Mantoudi, a village in Evia, Giannis Tsapourniotis, the fire of great virulence is evolving on four fronts, one of which is moving uncontrollably to the west of the monastery of Saint David, forcibly evacuated Wednesday.

But Thursday morning, the wind strengthened and the air resources were struggling to fly over the fires, because visibility is limited due to the thick smoke, according to the ANA agency.

Very difficult conditions

Firefighters said Thursday morning they had to manage 92 forest fires in 24 hours in Greece, out of the 118 counted Wednesday evening by the Deputy Minister of Civil Protection, Nikos Hardalias.

“

We will fight on all fronts all day long.

The conditions are difficult, very unusual

”, announced Thursday the Minister of Civil Protection, Michalis Chrisochoidis on the public channel ERT.

Another fire was underway in Messinia, in the south of the Peloponnese, where six towns were evacuated as a precaution, according to firefighters.