Wildfire

A prosecutor on Thursday charged a 35-year-old man with unintended arson over a wildfire that started in the Glyka Nera area of East Attica on Wednesday. 

The man is alleged to be one of the four people arrested by police on Wednesday. The suspects are said to have been flying a drone that fell in the area, causing the blaze.

Fire service officials have arrested a man accused of operating the drone that likely caused the wildfire in the East Attica area of Glyka Nera on Wednesday.

Heavy lightning triggered two fires on the Greek island of Thassos on Wednesday, the fire brigade said, a day after firefighting forces tamed wildfires fanned by unusually strong winds on two other islands.

Wildfires are well and truly part of life now and everything is pointing to them being a big and constant threat. The state, for its part, seems to have acquired the means and the experience for dealing with them.

Five aerial firefighting vehicles were mobilized after a fire broke out in low vegetation near the village of Asopia in Vieotia, central Greece, on Tuesday afternoon. 

A total of 44 firefighters, supported by two ground teams, 13 vehicles, three helicopters, and two aircraft, are battling the blaze.

Greek firefighters battled a blaze on the islands of Kos for a second day on Tuesday, as hundreds of tourists and locals who had been forced to evacuate overnight returned to their hotels and homes.

Türkiye is grappling with blistering heat waves as temperatures soar above seasonal norms, heightening the risk of forest fires especially in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions.

While the increasing temperatures and persistent strong winds are contributing factors, the recent fires in the region indicate that human activity is the primary cause.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Monday the country faced a dangerous summer for wildfires, with a prolonged drought and unusually strong winds contributing to tinderbox conditions.

Wildfires are common in the Mediterranean country, but hotter, drier and windier weather that scientists link to the effects of climate change has increased their frequency and intensity.

A prominent Kazakh businessman rejected allegations on Monday that he or any of the passengers onboard a luxury yacht were responsible for a wildfire that broke out on the Saronic island of Hydra by fireworks launched from the ship on June 21.

The blaze burnt through 300 acres of the only pine forest on the tourist island, which lies south of Athens.

Two wildfires that burned near Athens since Sunday, destroying dozens of houses and vehicles had eased by Monday morning, officials said.