Greece gets EU help to battle disastrous wildfires

ATHENS: Greece battled wildfires that have ravaged homes and sparked evacuations for a second day on Sunday, with the help of Czech firefighters and Italian aircraft expected to arrive later.

The fronts were raging Sunday morning in the Peloponnese area west of the capital, as well as on the islands of Evia and Kythera, with aircraft and helicopters resuming their work in several parts of the country at dawn.

Forecasters predicted the strong winds that have fanned the flames would die down on Sunday in most areas but warned that Kythera continued to face “worrying” windy conditions.

Evacuation messages were sent to people on the island, which lies off the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese, early on Sunday as the fire was raging unabated.

“Houses, beehives, olive trees have been burnt,” Giorgos Komninos, deputy mayor of Kythera, told local outlet ERT News.

“A monastery is in direct danger right now,” he said, adding that half of the island had been burnt.

Dozens of firefighters supported by three helicopters and two aircraft were battling the Kythera blaze, which erupted Saturday morning and forced the evacuation of a popular tourist beach.

Greece had requested help from EU allies and two Italian aircraft were expected Sunday, according to the fire brigade, with units from the Czech Republic already at work.

Heatwave conditions

Eleven regions of Greece still face a very high fire risk, according to officials.

Firefighters are working in several areas of the Peloponnese and there were several flare-ups overnight on the island of Evia, near Athens, where the flames have laid waste to swathes of forest and killed thousands of farm animals.

Further south on Crete, reports said fires that broke out on Saturday afternoon and destroyed four houses and a church and largely been contained.

Greece has endured heatwave conditions for almost a week, with temperatures passing 40 degrees Celsius in many areas, though the heat is expected to die down from Monday.