Dozens are Dead as Fires Rage in Greece

Wildfires burning near Athens have killed 49 people and injured more than 100, causing Greece to declare a state of emergency and evacuate towns in the southern peninsula of Attica.

The U.S. State Department has issued a security alert for “coastal regions and areas northeast of Athens.” The State Department made specific note of Kineta, a seaside town 30 miles west of Athens between the capital and Corinth. 

The fires, on the east and west of Athens, have grown so out of control that smoke and ash have filled the skies around the Greek capital, and Greece has requested assistance from other countries.

As the U.S. State Department noted, major fires also have broken out in the area northeast of Athens (Penteli, Viotza, Mati, Rafina, and Agios Andreas), as the country suffers through extremely dry and hot weather, following a dry winter.

The U.K.’s Foreign Office reported that the fires “have been confined to limited areas, but within those the impact has been high, with significant loss of life. Most visits to Greece, including to Athens, are unaffected. You should keep up to date with local media reports and follow the advice of the Greek authorities in affected areas.”

The U.K.’s Foreign Office also reported that some flights to Athens’ Eleftherios Venizelos airport have been diverted due to the thick smoke and reduced visibility, while the U.S. State Department reminded tourists to verify their flight schedule with their carrier.

Two major forest fires are burning out of control on either side of Greece’s capital, razing houses and prompting residents to flee as the sky over Athens turned a hazy orange from the smoke.

The fire in Mati, in Greece’s popular Rafina coastal region, was so devastating, one woman told Greece’s Skai TV that, “Mati doesn’t even exist as a settlement anymore.”

Meanwhile, west of Athens, a senior fire official said the fires and smoke were so bad in Kineta that locals and anyone else should evacuate. A 12-mile section of the main Athens-Corinth motorway leading to the Peloponnese peninsula was closed and train services were canceled.

There were reports of people jumping into the ocean, as the fired raged on the shore. Coast guard and private boats picked them up to be transported to safer coastal towns.

Additionally, a third fire burned farmland and woods on the southern island of Crete, while a forest fire burned in northern Greece near Soufli, and three smaller fires reportedly broke out in the area of Corinth in southern Greece.