Hundreds of firefighters strove Thursday to tame major wildfires that left three people dead a day earlier, as well as new blazes, while more than a dozen villages were evacuated Thursday on the islands of Crete, Paros and Andros, and fires broke out on the island of Kalymnos and the mainland.
Gale-force winds whipped on the flames and hampered water-bombing aircraft from operating in several cases, while authorities warned that adverse weather conditions would persist for a third day Friday with much of the country facing a major wildfire risk.
On Crete, 25-year-old firefighter Pantelis Diamantakis, who died together with 58-year-old Manolis Stratidakis battling a huge wildfire in the region of Rethymno, was buried Thursday in the village of Fourfouras. Stratidakis’ funeral was due later in the island’s Amari area.
A third firefighter died Wednesday during a blaze near Gytheio on the southern mainland.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis paid tribute to the dead firefighters, pledging continued efforts to strengthen defenses against increasingly destructive wildfires.
