Greece Battles 73 Active Wildfires as Gale-Force Winds Cripple Aerial Firefighting

Greece's Fire Service was battling 73 active wildfires nationwide Saturday after 51 new blazes broke out in the past 24 hours, with gale-force winds grounding most aircraft and forcing evacuations near Athens and along the Boeotia coast, officials said.

Chief Fire Brigadier Vasileios Vathrakogiannis, the Fire Service's director of strategic planning and communications, said in an emergency briefing that a fire in Marathos, Evrytania, has been brought under control, while blazes in Archontochori Amfilochias, Floka Achaias and Chinitsa Argolidas are subsiding.

On Poikilo Oros, near Athens, 108 firefighters, six wildland teams, volunteers and 22 vehicles are working to protect the Dafni psychiatric hospital, backed by seven aircraft and seven helicopters, though most aircraft have been unable to operate due to severe turbulence from high winds.

The toughest fronts are in Kalamaki and Xironomi, Boeotia, where 215 firefighters, 10 wildland teams, volunteers and 57 vehicles are deployed, aided by the military's "Deukalion" unit cutting firebreaks alongside the Forest Service. 

The fire advanced toward the coastal village of Agios Vasileios, triggering emergency evacuation alerts; Fire Service and Coast Guard vessels, along with private boats, evacuated 254 people by sea.

In Komboti, Arta, 64 firefighters and eight aircraft are battling a fire advancing near homes, with no damage reported so far.

In Fichti, Argolida, 125 firefighters, seven wildland teams, four aircraft and four helicopters are fighting flames through agricultural and forested land near scattered homes.

Officials warned of extreme fire risk in Attica and Evia Saturday, with very high risk elsewhere, and said all Civil Protection and Fire Service units remain on standby. Residents were urged to follow official instructions.

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