General Secretariat of Civil Protection

A very high risk of fire (risk category 4) is forecast today, Friday, August 16, in several areas of the country.

According to the Fire Risk Prediction Map issued by the General Secretariat of Civil Protection of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, the areas prone to fire are:

Almost 650 citizens have been given temporary hotel accommodation following the devastating fires that swept northeast Attica since Sunday.

The Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, established a special online platform so that citizens in need could apply for accommodation.

The fire brigade is concerned about the intensity of the winds, as it is operating for the second consecutive day on the fire fronts from Varnavas and Marathon, up to Penteli and Nea Makri. The winds may have weakened during the night, but by dawn, they will become gusty again, although with lower intensities than yesterday, according to EMF director Thodoris Kolydas.

We will head into August 15 with heat and windy weather, according to meteorologists, with the weather conditions favoring the start and spread of fire.

North winds in the Aegean Sea will reach 6 to 7 and on Sunday possibly even 8 Beaufort, keeping the temperature in the windward areas at bearable levels.

Authorities have issued a fire warning for four islands on Wednesday.

Α map published by Civil Protection showed Samos, Ikaria, Chios and Psara are at very high risk of wildfires, ranking at 4 out of a maximum of 5. Several other regions of the mainland, mainly Central Macedonia, Attica, Evia, Western Greece and parts of the Peloponnese are at increased risk.

Two different faces are expected to show up in the next few days.

The risk of fire will be very high (category 4) in large parts of the country on Tuesday, according to the relevant forecast map of the General Secretariat of Civil Protection of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection (civilprotection.gov.gr).

The regions designated as high-risk are colored orange on the map.

The scientific community is sounding the alarm over the water scarcity alert that has been sounded in many parts of the country. A total of 14 municipalities in the country have been declared a state of emergency by the General Secretariat of Civil Protection.

The next few days are all expected to be very dangerous for the outbreak of wildfires that could very easily and quickly get out of control due to the extreme weather conditions.

Crete, as well as parts of the northern and southern Aegean, faces a very high risk of fire on Saturday, the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection has said.

On the ministry's fire risk forecast map for Saturday, Chios, Crete, Ikaria, Kalymnos, Karapathos, Kos, Rhodes and Samos are all marked orange, the second-highest fire-risk category.