A forest fire fanned by strong winds ravaged the vegetation of a southern suburb of Athens on Saturday, forcing many residents to evacuate, firefighters said.
The Greek civil protection called by SMS via the emergency number 112 the inhabitants of Ano Voula and the surrounding area to leave their homes, the flames having already reached a residential area.
The fire, which is at this stage out of control, also caused the evacuation of four other areas on Saturday late afternoon, the wind having changed direction and pushed the flames towards Vari, explained Grigoris Konstantelos, the mayor of Voula, on the television channel Skai.
Six water bomber planes
Six water bomber planes, three helicopters and municipal tank trucks are in support of several dozen firefighters who intervened with 20 fire engines.
Media reported a power outage in the area where roofs, gardens and vehicles were damaged by fire. Skai showed footage of a house on fire with flames licking the inside.
Questioned by Open tv, the mayor of Voula indicated that around twenty houses had been damaged.
“The situation is very difficult and the wind is not helping,” said Giannis Konstantatos, the mayor of Ellinikon-Argiroupoli, a neighboring town. “The atmosphere is suffocating, it’s hard to breathe,” he told the Athens News Agency.
Power plant involved?
Giorgos Papanikolaou, the mayor of Glyfada, where the fire broke out, said, without providing further details, that a high-voltage power station had been the cause of the disaster, the agency added.
Later in the afternoon, another fire broke out near Athens, in Kouvaras, but no residential areas are threatened.
More than 200 firefighters and equipment provided by other European Union countries will soon be deployed in Greece to help in the fight against these disasters. The European Commission said on Thursday that Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and Norway would participate in the operation, coordinated by the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.
afp/fgn