Hundreds of people living in a woodland region north of Athens were forced to flee their houses as a wildfire spread through the city, fueled by Greece’s worst heatwave in decades.
On Tuesday, a fire in Tatoi, 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) north of Athens, poured smoke over the capital and triggered many evacuations. As smoke enveloped residential areas, many locals left their houses in automobiles and on motorcycles to travel to the capital.
“It is a massive fire, and it will take a lot of work to put it out,” George Patoulis, the greater Athens regional governor, told state-run ERT television.
“Everyone in the neighbourhood should be on high alert. We are requesting that residents in fire-affected areas keep their windows closed because the smoke is so dense.”
Temperatures in sections of Athens surpassed 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 degrees Fahrenheit) as the heatwave ravaging the eastern Mediterranean increased.
Extreme weather has sparked devastating wildfires in Turkey, as well as in Greece, Albania, Italy, and other parts of the area.
