– It spreads at lightning speed, says fire service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis. Reuters.

Throughout the night, forest fires surrounding Athens consumed trees, homes and cars. According to the agency, hundreds of firefighters, 16 water-hosing planes and 13 helicopters worked to extinguish the flames.

Fires engulfed the village of Varnavas, just outside Athens, on Monday night.

In some places, the flames will reach 25 meters in height. He writes that residents of the Greek capital are now also being evacuated. BBC.

This applies, among other things, to three hospitals in the area around Mount Pentelikon. The small historic town of Marathon, close to the capital, is also being evacuated.

“Everything is burning,” one evacuee from the village of Polidandri told the BBC.

-Everything is burning

According to the channel, 40 fires have broken out in Greece since Saturday afternoon. Both June and July were record warm months in the country.

Strong winds are making it difficult to control the fires, fire service spokesman Vathrakogiannis said.

There have been several heat waves in Europe this summer. In Greece the temperature has sometimes exceeded 40 degrees.

There are also forest fires in Spain, Montenegro, Turkey, Italy, Bosnia and Albania.

European Union Advertise In May, this summer they had a team of 556 firefighters from 12 countries stationed in countries in southern Europe where the risk of wildfires is high.

early in the wildfire season

2023 was a “record year” for severe wildfires in Europe, and the hottest year on record.

So far this summer has been quiet in southern Europe, says senior researcher Johannes Kaiser at the Nilo Institute for Environmental Research.

But recently, several forest fires have broken out in Greece.

– It remains to be seen whether the forest fire season will be fierce or not. He told NRK that some intense fires have broken out in recent days.

He says wildfires are often a natural part of the ecosystem, and can be healthy for nature.

But in the past ten years, wildfires have become more intense, and there have been more intense fires than in the past.

– There is clearly a link to climate change. It is linked to increased drought. This is one of the ways we have to adapt to climate change. We have to monitor the forests closely, and make sure there is not too much dry material that can keep the fires burning.