Wildfire

Greek firefighters backed by water-dropping planes and helicopters were battling a wildfire burning through a protected nature reserve on the island of Evia for a second day Wednesday, where hundreds of people had been evacuated from four villages and a monastery.

Aircraft sprayed water early on Wednesday in a bid to douse the flames of a huge wildfire on the Greek island of Evia that had prompted the evacuation of villages and spurred an appeal from authorities for assistance from European partners.

The wildfire near villages of Bryagovo, Rodopi, and Lyubenovo in the south Bulgarian district of Haskovo, engulfed nearly 8,000 decares of land, half of it with deciduous forest.

Some 100 people, including firefighters, forest officials, and military, are taking part in the efforts to extinguish the fire.

A large wildfire fanned by strong winds burned tracts of pine forest on the Greek island of Evia, firefighters said on Tuesday, with evacuation ordered of two villages in the path of the flames.

Wildfires raged uncontrolled in at least four other Greek regions, and the fire brigade said it had been called to put out 182 fires in the last three days.

European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides said Tuesday that Brussels was mobilizing its rescEU mechanism to respond to Greece's activation of the European Civil Protection Mechanism in response to the wildfires raging in the country.
"The EU stands by Greece at this difficult time," Stylianides tweeted.

Many are attempting erroneously to compare the fire that broke out at dawn on Monday at the borders of Paiania at the edge of Mount Hymettus to the disastrous wildfire in Mati last year that claimed the lives of over 100 people.
Every such incident is distinct and occurs in different weather conditions.

The two biggest wildfires to have hit Greece so far this summer season were both uncomfortably familiar: The first was started by a faulty power cable and the second at a rubbish dump.

Hundreds of firefighters battled three wildfires in Greece, where two villages were being evacuated Tuesday as the largest blaze burned a thickly forested nature reserve on the island of Evia north of Athens.

The Greek fire department's special arson section (DAEE) is investigating the causes of the wildfire that started in the eastern Athenian suburb of Peania early Monday morning and reached Mount Hymettus.

The fire broke out at 3:18 a.m. on Serron Street, where Peania borders with the forest, and was fanned by the strong winds in the area.

Dozens of firefighters backed by water-dropping aircraft are battling a wildfire on an island north of Athens that has left the Greek capital blanketed in smoke.