Greek Wildfires Scorch Thousands of Hectares as Firefighters Battle Multiple Fronts

ATHENS-Greece was battling multiple wildfires on Sunday after a week of blazes burned more than 12,000 hectares of forest and agricultural land, with authorities warning that high fire danger persisted around Athens and other parts of the country despite easing winds.

According to the National Observatory’s climate monitoring platform meteo.gr, more than 6,500 hectares were destroyed in separate fires along the Gulf of Corinth, including a major blaze that swept through the coastal village of Porto Germeno, about 70 kilometers northwest of Athens.

The fire, which broke out on Friday, prompted the evacuation of Porto Germeno. Local authorities said numerous homes were damaged or destroyed as firefighters worked to contain the flames.

Meteo.gr said fires earlier this week on the islands of Crete and Paros burned an additional 6,000 hectares, bringing the total area affected nationwide to more than 12,000 hectares.

Firefighters have faced dozens of outbreaks each day as strong winds fueled rapidly spreading blazes across the country. Civil Protection Minister Evangelos Tournas said on Saturday that Greece’s fire service had been “pushed to its limits” during the prolonged emergency.

Three firefighters were killed while responding to the fires this week, including two in Crete and one in the Peloponnese, underscoring the dangers confronting emergency crews.

Tournas said gale-force winds created extremely difficult operating conditions for aerial firefighting aircraft, with severe turbulence in some areas preventing planes from collecting water or carrying out water drops effectively.

Although winds weakened late on Saturday, the Civil Protection Ministry maintained near-maximum fire risk alerts for the greater Athens region, neighboring Voiotia and the island of Evia on Sunday, reflecting continued concerns over fresh outbreaks.

The fire department said nearly 500 firefighters were deployed to battle the Porto Germeno blaze, while around 100 personnel were fighting another wildfire in the Aigialia area of the northern Peloponnese.

Authorities were also responding to a new wildfire that erupted late Saturday on the Ionian island of Cephalonia, adding to pressure on firefighting resources already stretched by multiple simultaneous emergencies.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had warned earlier this week that Greece faced “difficult days” after much of the country had avoided the extreme heatwaves and large-scale fires that affected parts of France and Spain earlier in the summer.

Like many Mediterranean countries, Greece experiences severe wildfire seasons driven by high temperatures, prolonged drought and recurring heatwaves. Scientists have linked increasingly intense and frequent extreme weather events across the region to climate change, while authorities continue to prepare for elevated fire risks during the peak summer months.