Greek forest fires

A woman has tragically died in the recent fires that have reached the outskirts of Athens, Greece. Her body was discovered in a shop located in the Vrilissia district of the city.

More than 120,000 hectares of land have burned across Greece in 2023 up until Wednesday according to the National Observatory of Athens' Meteo.gr.

At the same time, the European Observatory of Forest Fires noted the 2023 Greece wildfires' burned land area is three times larger than the average annually burned land since 2006.

Water-dropping planes from several European countries joined hundreds of firefighters Wednesday battling wildfires raging for days across Greece that left 20 people dead, while major blazes also burned in Spain's Tenerife and in northwestern Turkey near the Greek border.

A fire broke out near the town of Megara in Attica on Wednesday afternoon. According to information available to Kathimerini, the fire broke out in a wooded area in a gorge and no residential areas are under threat.

The Hellenic Fire Service announced that 35 firefighters, nine vehicles and two aircraft are operating to put the fire out.

France is experiencing large forest fires in the south

Turkish officials insist they are doing everything to stop the fires but the opposition and many ordinary people have criticized the government for its allegedly weak response.

"We are altogether fighting the forest fires in our country," the General Directorate of Forestry said on Sunday on Twitter.

About 33 firefighters assisted by 15 fire engines, four water-dropping aircraft and two helicopters were on Friday trying to contain a wildfire on Mount Penteli, north of the Greek capital.

No more information was immediately available about the blaze which erupted near a residential neighborhood.
 

Forest fires have destroyed over 10 hectares of land across Turkey on July 2.