HUNDREDS OF FIREFIGHTERS in Greece are battling to save a popular coastal resort northwest of Athens as violent winds continued to lash the country, hampering operations.

The fire department said over 300 firefighters were operating in the area of Porto Germeno, some 70 kilometres northwest of Athens in the region of Viotia.

“The fire has reached the sea… homes have certainly been damaged,” a fire department spokesman told AFP.

“The winds are very strong. Aircraft are trying to operate as best they can, but some are unable to and have been transferred to another fire (in the Peloponnese) where conditions are milder,” he added.

According to meteo.gr, the weather service of the National Observatory of Athens, winds up to 130 kilometres per hour were recorded Saturday.

The fire broke out Friday near the neighbouring coastal village of Agios Vasileios. Residents initially ignored a civil protection call to evacuate, and some 300 people had to be rescued by sea.

“The environmental damage is huge,” the mayor of Thebes Giorgos Anastasiou told Open TV.

Theodore Giannaros, a wildfire meteorologist and senior researcher at the National Observatory of Athens on Saturday said the damage to the Porto Germeno area was “inconceivable”.

Wildfires have flared in several parts of the country this week, including on the popular island of Crete, and three firefighters have so far lost their lives.

Smoke rises from wildfire in Rethymno on the island of Crete, Greece Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Τhe fires in Crete have affected nearly 5,000 hectares on the island, according to meteo.gr. Another fire on the tourist island of Paros earlier this week burned nearly 1,000 hectares, it said.

On Friday, another fire threatened the suburb of Haidari west of Athens that had to be partly evacuated.

A maximum fire risk alert has been issued for Saturday in the greater Athens area, parts of the Peloponnese and Crete, central Greece and the border region with Turkey.

Greece’s geography, with its hundreds of islands, complicates the rapid deployment of emergency responders.

Hit hard by the climate crisis like the rest of the Mediterranean region, the country is plagued by wildfires every summer due to high temperatures, frequent heat waves and drought.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned on Thursday that Greece – which had been relatively spared from heat waves and major fires earlier this summer, unlike France and Spain – was headed for “difficult days”.

Suffolk

Elsewhere, firefighters in Suffolk were able to reduce the number of appliances tackling a blaze which has caused “total devastation” to heathland.

Fourteen appliances had been in attendance at Dunwich Heath, although that was reduced to eight for overnight operations after “positive firefighting action… and the creation of further firebreaks” on Friday.

In an update on Saturday morning, Suffolk Fire and Rescue said: “With the weekend here, we continue to ask members of the public to avoid the area and keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. Local roads and footpaths remain closed.”

On Friday, the National Trust launched an emergency fundraising drive after the wildfire left the landscape “unrecognisable”.

Emergency services near the scene of wildfire at Dunwich Heath, where a major incident was declared Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

National Trust director-general Hilary McGrady has described the “heartbreaking” loss of an important habitat which was home to rare species.

The charity said the heath was an important area for wildlife such as nightjars, skylarks and the rare Dartford warbler, as well as adders, lizards and slow worms, and butterflies including the rare silver-studded blue.

The lowland heath habitat is one of the UK’s rarest and an estimated 92% of it has been lost in England over the last 120 years, it added.

In a statement on Friday, McGrady said: “We are looking at total devastation of a beloved and important landscape.

“We’ve lost precious habitats, wildlife, trees, and a place where people have made memories over generations. It’s heartbreaking.

“But together we can and will restore Dunwich and, crucially, make it more resilient and better adapted for the climate we’re facing now, and the climate we’ll be facing in future.”

Footage of the scene shows the once grassy, coastal area known for its carpet of purple heather reduced to a charred, barren landscape, which is still smouldering.

Smoke rises from smouldering remains of wildfire at Dunwich Heath after firefighters battled large heathland blaze on Suffolk coast Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Crews continued to battle the blaze on Friday, and evacuated residents and holidaymakers were given a short window of opportunity to collect essential belongings under police escort.

Firefighters across the country have been tackling similar but smaller fires.

More than 20 fire services have been responding to fires amid hot and dry conditions which have left half of England and all of Wales in drought.

On Tuesday, the National Fire Chiefs Council said more than 200 wildfires had been reported in England and Wales in less than two weeks, and wildfire risk remained “elevated”.

- © AFP 2026 and with additional reporting from Press Association