Firefighters succeded in quickly taming a scrub fire west of Athens that triggered three evacuation orders, while other blazes raged in northern and western Greece as the capital and other regions were set on a maximum wildfire alert for Thursday.
The Fire Service said more than 60 firefighters assisted by eight water-bombing aircraft were able to bring under partial control a wildfire that prompted authorities to send evacuation orders for the villages of Loutropyrgos, Tolka and Neraki Wednesday.
Civil protection authorities have placed Attica, neighboring Viotia, the Argolid and Corinthia in the northeastern Peloponnese, and the islands of Evia and Lesvos on a category-5 threat of wildfire on Greece’s 5-notch scale for Thursday.
Most of the Aegean islands and large chunks of the mainland face a category-4 threat, while only central and western Macedonia are on category 2.
Municipal authorities in Athens said the hills of Lycabettus and Finopoulos in the city center would be closed to all members of the public from midnight Wednesday until the danger is deemed to have passed.
