New wildfire under control in seaside resort near Athens

ATHENS, Greece – A new wildfire on Thursday near Athens led to more home evacuations a day after a different blaze near the Greek capital forced thousands of residents to leave their dwellings.

The fire service said about 100 firefighters assisted by three water-dropping helicopters took part in the operation to extinguish the blaze burning through low vegetation among scattered homes in the seaside resort of Artemis.

Residents were asked to leave their homes as strong winds whipped on the flames.

The blaze was brought under control later Thursday, the fire service said. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

Another big fire broke out in a forest in the southern Peloponnese region Thursday.

But the fire service said a major blaze south of Athens near the town of Anavyssos had been brought under control. The fire forced thousands of home evacuations on Wednesday as a front headed for the town.

Wildfires are common during Greece’s hot, arid summers, gradually stripping away the country’s forest cover. In 2018, a blaze at the seaside resort of Mati east of Athens raged out of control, killing 102 people.

Large sections of the Peloponnese and the countryside around Athens were ravaged in 2007 by forest fires that killed more than 70 people.