High winds, dry weather stoking wildfires throughout Greece

ATHENS, Greece – Greece’s fire service says a fire has been raging in a mountainous part of the island of Evia in central Greece for the second day in a row, burning well over 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) of forest and forcing authorities to evacuate a village, a monastery and a hotel.

The service says the hot, dry and windy weather is helping the fire expand and making it difficult for the five planes, five helicopters and hundreds of firefighters on the ground to contain it. Firefighting help from the air ceases at sundown.

The agency says the Evia fire is the largest of the 59 wildfires that broke out between 6 a.m. Saturday and 6 a.m. Sunday. Other fires on the islands of Crete and Kea are also still expanding.