The emergency services hoped to be able to contain the fire on Friday with the help of fire-fighting planes, since the weather conditions are now “much better”, said the fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis the TV station Skai.
The fire broke out on Wednesday evening near the nature reserve of the Gerania mountain range, around 90 kilometers west of Athens. Almost 300 firefighters were on duty on Friday night, and 15 fire-fighting aircraft were used to provide support on Friday.
20 square kilometers of pine forest burned down
According to the civil protection authority, hundreds of people from 17 villages and two monasteries in the area were brought to safety from the flames on Thursday. According to estimates, around 20 square kilometers of pine forest have already been destroyed by the fire.
Severe drought, strong winds and temperatures of more than 30 degrees cause devastating forest fires in Greece every summer. Three years ago, 102 people died in the country’s worst fire to date in the seaside resort of Mati near Athens.