Multiple wildfires broke out across Greece on Friday, triggering evacuations, precautionary closures and large-scale firefighting operations as strong northerly winds complicated efforts to contain the blazes.
They came as an evacuation by sea was in progress Friday afternoon at Agios Vasileios, a coastal settlement in the central Greek regional unit of Viotia on the Gulf of Corinth, as about 500 residents and visitors flee a fast-moving wildfire that has surrounded the village.
On the western outskirts of Athens, a wildfire erupted shortly before 4 p.m. in a forested area of Aspropyrgos, prompting a major fire-fighting response.
A 112 alert instructed people in Prosili and Porto Germeno, a seaside resort west of Athens, to evacuate through Vilia toward Mandra, as the fire spread across the wider area.
In the northeastern Peloponnese, authorities evacuated the UNESCO-listed archaeological site of Mycenae and the nearby Heraion of Argos ancient sanctuary as a precaution after a wildfire broke out near the Fichtia area of Argolida. The Ephorate of Antiquities of Argolida said emergency protocols were activated, visitors were safely removed, and the site’s firefighting system remained on standby.
