More villages evacuated as wildfire in northern Greece rages for second day

Greek authorities evacuated another five villages near the north-eastern border with Turkey on Sunday where a large summer wildfire that has already destroyed several homes over the weekend drew dangerously close.

There were no reports of serious injuries to firefighters or residents from the forest blaze near the town of Alexandroupolis, that forced the evacuation of another eight villages on Saturday.

Strong winds whipped on the flames, and civil protection authorities warned of an “extreme” fire risk on Monday in the region around the capital, Athens, and other parts of southern Greece.

Some 200 firefighters, assisted by 16 water-dropping aircraft, volunteers and police, were battling the blaze near Alexandroupolis.

Local authorities said about half a dozen outlying houses and outbuildings were badly damaged in two of the evacuated villages, as well as a church. Sections of a major road were closed for a second day as smoke reduced visibility, while Alexandroupolis residents were advised to keep their windows shut.

Greece’s minister for civil protection, Vassilis Kikilias, said on Sunday that firefighters, police, army personnel and volunteers were “waging an intense battle” in the Alexandroupolis area, and called for extreme public vigilance throughout the country on Monday.

“No outdoors work that could trigger a fire will be permitted,” he said. “We must all protect our country.”

Last month a large wildfire on the resort island of Rhodes forced the evacuation of some 20,000 tourists. Days later, two air force pilots were killed when their water-dropping plane crashed while diving low to tackle a blaze on the island of Evia. Another three wildfire-related deaths have been recorded this summer.