Firefighters Battle Flare-Ups as Western Attica Wildfire Threatens Settlements

Firefighters continued battling a major wildfire in western Attica on Monday, working to contain flare-ups in the areas of Agios Nektarios and Kryo Pigadi as rising temperatures fuelled renewed outbreaks.

The northern section of the fire showed temporary signs of easing earlier in the day, but higher temperatures triggered new flare-ups, keeping the threat to nearby settlements high, according to Kostas Tsigas, head of the fire brigade officers’ association.

Fire Department spokesman Ioannis Artopios said the main active fronts remained in Kandili and Agia Skepi, in the mountainous part of western Attica near the coastal town of Nea Peramos, west of Athens.

An emergency 112 alert was issued overnight ordering residents in Agia Skepi, Kandili and Botsika to evacuate toward Nea Peramos. Ground crews worked through the night, using heavy machinery to create firebreaks and slow the blaze’s spread.

The firefighting effort has been overshadowed by Sunday’s deadly mid-air collision of two rented Bell helicopters assisting with the operation near Psatha, a coastal area on the Gulf of Corinth. Greek Police have taken over the preliminary investigation into the cause of the crash.

Severe damage has been reported in Porto Germeno, a seaside village in western Attica, where properties were destroyed and thousands of acres of land burned.

Meanwhile, new wildfires broke out in Kilkis in northern Greece and Pylos in the southwestern Peloponnese, while firefighting forces were reinforced in Vrontou in the Pieria regional unit of central Macedonia.

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