Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

A volunteer throws dirt with a shovel on flames, in Dioni, northeast of Athens Alamy

Greece calls for international help as wildfire burns through northern suburbs of Athens

June and July of this year were the hottest months ever recorded in Greece.

A MASSIVE FOREST fire has filled the skies over Athens with smoke and begun burning through the Greek capital’s northern suburbs as firefighters struggle desperately to contain the blaze. 

The Greek Government has made a call for international assistance to fight the rampant wildfire as it continues to engulf cars, houses and other buildings, blanketing the city centre in ash and forcing thousands of people to flee.

In scenes never before seen in the ancient city, residents wearing masks against the choking smoke were desperately dousing their homes with water hoses in the leafy suburbs of Nea Penteli and Vrilissia in an effort to render them less vulnerable to the advancing fire.

At times the flames have reached heights of 25 metres.

Power cuts have been reported in several parts of the capital and also affected traffic lights at major junctions in the centre. 

The efforts of the embattled firefighters have been made more difficult by strong, gusting winds. 

Television footage showed several cars in both suburban areas gutted by fire and the roofs of stately homes burning as water-bombing helicopters roared overhead.

two-men-and-a-volunteer-firefighter-try-to-extinguish-the-flames-at-a-burning-business-during-a-fire-in-northern-athens-monday-aug-12-2024-as-hundreds-of-firefighters-tackle-a-major-wildfire-ragi Firefighters and volunteer attempt to put out a fire burning a business north of Athens. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

“The situation is dramatic,” Penteli mayor Natassa Kosmopoulou told news portal newsit.gr.

“A school and homes are on fire, and I can see the fire coming towards the town hall,” she said.

The local fire department said 685 firefighters, backed by 27 teams specially trained to tackle wildfires and including more than 80 armed forces personnel, were battling the flames.

Greece has formally called for EU assistance, a spokesman said. 

“The EU civil protection mechanism was activated upon request of the Greek authorities,” EU spokesman Balazs Ujvari said in a statement, adding that Italy, France, the Czech Republic and Romania were sending units to help.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Paris was sending 180 firefighters, 55 trucks and a helicopter to assist their hard-pressed Greek colleagues.

varnavas-greece-12th-aug-2024-local-residents-and-firefighters-are-seen-at-the-site-of-a-wildfire-in-varnavas-around-35-km-from-athens-greece-on-aug-11-2024-greek-firefighters-were-battling Local residents and firefighters are seen at the site of a wildfire in Varnavas, around 35 km from Athens Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

More than 190 vehicles were deployed, while 17 water-dropping planes and 16 helicopters were providing aerial support.

The wildfire has been racing through pine forests on the city’s outskirts that have been left tinder-dry by repeated heatwaves this summer. 

June and July of this year were the hottest months ever recorded in Greece, which also recorded its warmest winter ever. Greece has already suffered deadly wildfires this year, as has neighbouring Turkey. 

‘Biblical catastrophe’

Authorities are facing “an exceptionally dangerous fire, which we have been fighting for more than 20 hours under dramatic circumstances”, climate crisis and civil protection minister Vassilis Kikilias said this morning.

A children’s hospital and a military hospital, two monasteries and a children’s home have been evacuated, while one more hospital was to be evacuated this afternoon.

More than two dozen emergency push alerts were sent to mobile phones in the area warning people to flee. The number of destroyed buildings is not yet clear.

flames-burn-a-mini-excavator-during-a-fire-in-northern-athens-monday-aug-12-2024-as-hundreds-of-firefighters-tackle-a-major-wildfire-raging-out-of-control-on-fringes-of-greek-capital-ap-photom A vehicle on fire north of Athens Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

“The wind would go in one direction and then in the other. The smoke was suffocating. You couldn’t see. Your eyes teared up. You couldn’t breathe. You couldn’t see the house,” said Spyros Gorilas, a resident of the area of Dioni who hosed down his house with water to save it from the flames.

“Even the helicopter that dropped water, you couldn’t see it. You could only hear it. Nothing else.”

Last night, the police department said 380 police officers with 77 vehicles, 36 motorcycles, three buses and four vans were assisting in the evacuations, and by mid-morning had helped move more than 250 people away from the path of the flames.

It posted a video on its social media channels showing police officers carrying elderly people in their arms out of houses and to waiting vehicles, against a backdrop of a night sky turned red from the flames and smoke.

Several large Athens municipalities ordered partial evacuations, including Penteli, Vrilissia and Halandri.

flames-burn-a-vehicle-at-a-business-during-a-fire-in-northern-athens-monday-aug-12-2024-as-hundreds-of-firefighters-tackle-a-major-wildfire-raging-out-of-control-on-fringes-of-greek-capital-ap Burnt out cars still smoldering north of Athens Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

“Because of the direction of the wind we have decided on a precautionary evacuation,” Halandri mayor Simos Roussos told ERT. “The fire is very close.”

Authorities opened the Olympic stadium in northern Athens and other stadiums to house thousands of people evacuated from the path of the blaze. Three major hospitals have been placed on standby.

One firefighter suffered serious burns, another was hospitalised with breathing trouble and 13 other people were treated for milder respiratory problems, fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said.

Several smaller communities and towns, including Marathon, which gave the Olympic long distance race its name, started to evacuate yesterday.

“We are facing a biblical catastrophe,” said Marathon’s mayor Stergios Tsirkas. “Our whole town is engulfed in flames,” he told the Skai television channel.

With reporting from AFP and Press Association

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
30 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Gaffney
    Favourite Stephen Gaffney
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 3:50 PM

    Keir Starmer says Joe Biden is so delighted he is the new Prime Minister, not only did he phone up to congratulate him on Friday, he did it three times on Saturday and five times on Sunday.

    307
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John K
    Favourite John K
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:27 PM

    @Stephen Gaffney: the Democrats and the democrat biased media have lied for the last 4 years about Joe’s cognitive decline. It finally got to the point where it was absolutely undeniable during the debate and now they are scrambling to have him removed. Less than a month ago The Journal put out an article about “Cheap Fakes” trying to make out it was a Republican conspiracy to make Biden look bad. Do they not realise we can see through their biased opinions and have lost faith in their reporting!

    267
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Gaffney
    Favourite Stephen Gaffney
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:54 PM

    @John K: White House also put out a statement saying he doesn’t have Parkinson’s. He is not taking medication for Parkinson’s. And he’s not receiving any treatment for Parkinson’s.
    Not one mention of that severe onset of dementia.

    118
    See 9 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bernard Connolly
    Favourite Bernard Connolly
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 6:26 PM

    @Stephen Gaffney: judge Martin Nolan at it again in the above article he is some work

    88
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bert Carolan
    Favourite Bert Carolan
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 6:48 PM

    @Bernard Connolly: What kind of world does he live in?

    44
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute martin lawlor
    Favourite martin lawlor
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 8:03 PM

    @John K: The Journal has almost become predictable at this stage

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Terry Molloy
    Favourite Terry Molloy
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 9:44 PM

    @Stephen Gaffney: The comment of the week goes to your Mr Gaffney :-)

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Terry Molloy
    Favourite Terry Molloy
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 9:45 PM

    @Terry Molloy: you(typo)

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jose mourinho
    Favourite Jose mourinho
    Report
    Jul 11th 2024, 1:38 AM

    @Stephen Gaffney: American voters will have a cruel choice between a barely functional Biden and a diabolically felonious Trump …

    Whichever of these 2 chaps they choose, the future looks bleak for the next 4 years …

    Unless one or both of them drop out and the voters can choose more suitable, younger candidates for the POTUS & VP

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Heather Knowles
    Favourite Heather Knowles
    Report
    Jul 11th 2024, 8:54 AM

    @Bernard Connolly: Appalling sentencing as per usual. He needs to be removed and investigated himself as it’s always the same. These vile creatures must jump for joy when they get him judging their cases. Should be automatic minimum sentencing for these types of crimes. A suspended sentence is just shocking.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robert Halvey
    Favourite Robert Halvey
    Report
    Jul 11th 2024, 12:06 PM

    @John K: and everything that comes out of the lying treacherous sex offender fraudster orange thing is lies and projection

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Gaffney
    Favourite Stephen Gaffney
    Report
    Jul 11th 2024, 2:22 PM

    @Jose mourinho: If Trump wins the war in Ukraine will be over. Simple as that. Don’t care what people think of him or what he did / didn’t do.
    Also, I know you got sacked from Roma but getting on the journal comments is a bit mental.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pól Pot
    Favourite Pól Pot
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 3:51 PM

    Donald Trump is brilliant. Everyone knows he’s brilliant. No one can deny it.

    150
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alex
    Favourite Alex
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 4:16 PM

    @Pól Pot: Not ashamed to use this nickname? You probably have no clue what it means.

    100
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pól Pot
    Favourite Pól Pot
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 4:19 PM

    @Alex: If you knew anything about geography, you’d understand that Trump is the only hope for a free and brave global economy.

    102
    See 7 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean
    Favourite Sean
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 4:22 PM

    @Pól Pot: I seem to remember his trade war with China didn’t go well..or his promise to make Mexico pay for.border wall and take back car manufacturing jobs from there too.

    75
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pól Pot
    Favourite Pól Pot
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 4:36 PM

    @Sean: If you knew anything about ornithology, you’d understand that the bald eagle is infact a sea eagle (Haliaeetus species) that commonly occurs inland along rivers and large lakes.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean
    Favourite Sean
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:01 PM

    @Pól Pot: I thought that you’d be more interested in the northern lapwing (vanellus vanellus) since it is our national bird.
    Want to try sport or history next?

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pól Pot
    Favourite Pól Pot
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:14 PM

    @Sean: Neither. I’m simply happy that Donald has descended to the Mount of Olives as a prelude to His earthly reign.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean
    Favourite Sean
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:19 PM

    @Pól Pot: the only olives trump knows about is in the oil he uses in his tan and hair colour

    35
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pól Pot
    Favourite Pól Pot
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:44 PM

    @Sean: Billions and billions of blue blistering barnacles! Blasphemy! Apostate! Pestilential pachyderm!

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patrick MC Dermott
    Favourite Patrick MC Dermott
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:51 PM

    @Sean: He didn’t even know where Mexico was, when asked to point it out on a map.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nodon
    Favourite Nodon
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 3:55 PM

    Biden has already made his decision. He has said that he does not intend dropping out. Somebody should inform Pelosi of his decision.

    144
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Flanagan
    Favourite John Flanagan
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 3:57 PM

    @Nodon: big big mistake. If he won’t go, he should be pushed.

    130
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ger Whelan
    Favourite Ger Whelan
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 4:13 PM

    @Nodon: Someone should inform Joe he’s Trump’s best asset in the election campaign.

    120
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gary Mullen
    Favourite Gary Mullen
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 6:28 PM

    See Nolan is at it again. Another suspended sentence.

    123
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nikki Swift
    Favourite Nikki Swift
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 6:38 PM

    @Gary Mullen: i just read that report, how on earth is nolan allowed to continue wit with these suspend sentences.

    114
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maurice Whelan
    Favourite Maurice Whelan
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 9:19 PM

    @Gary Mullen: idiot….hasn’t a f*&&^%clue

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave Grant
    Favourite Dave Grant
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 3:51 PM

    Four More Wars!

    122
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nigel McAtamney
    Favourite Nigel McAtamney
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 3:59 PM

    Smashing through his campaign like a freight train, just like they knocked Bernie Sanders out with Hillary….. and look how well that worked out. I love watching the car crash politics of an American election year. Need more popcorn n beer

    86
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dere
    Favourite Dere
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 3:56 PM

    With Nato announcing that they are sending fighter jets to Ukraine expect emergency wartime conditions to be announced by the end of the year in the West, especially with the launch of Central bank currencies at the end of the year, which will facilitate the inevitable rationing quite easily, which will then be held onto after the emergency ends to limit every citizens carbon footprint….like clockwork…..so don’t expect there to be another one of those swell presidential elections this year.

    76
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Papa Smut
    Favourite Papa Smut
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:40 PM

    @Dere: You forgot to mention the Illuminati, or is it 5G or vaccinies, I can’t keep up!

    56
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dere
    Favourite Dere
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 6:06 PM

    @Papa Smut: nah, just the military industrial complex and its partner in crime the financial industry, ya know the one President Eisenhower so fervently warmed the Anerican public about in his farewell presidential speech as the greatest threat to America…..but yeah, it’s just a conspiracy tinfoil hat thing.

    68
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dominic Leleu
    Favourite Dominic Leleu
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 6:23 PM

    Since he has been in power, he has work very hard to earn billions selling ammunitions and arms, as they were humiliated in Afghanistan and lost billions of weapons and vehicles. He has worked very hard not to help for peace but to create more conflicts. He is living in a cold war time and everyone not like him is a communist.
    Trump has for him that he never went to war.

    69
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jp Cleary
    Favourite Jp Cleary
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:52 PM

    Good auld Martin.

    56
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jp Cleary
    Favourite Jp Cleary
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:53 PM

    @Jp Cleary: I wonder if any of those images were of his kids what would happen

    78
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Flanagan
    Favourite John Flanagan
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 3:56 PM

    My god are we and the world in for a horrendous time if its trump. My god sure the Democrats have someone they can put foreward to at least make a fight of it. Trump did and will destroy America and the world. Oh my god. Such an evil holligan.

    93
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Numinous20111
    Favourite Numinous20111
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:45 PM

    @John Flanagan: I think people forget just how incompetent Trump is. Admittedly with the almost daily stream of d-e-b-a-s-e-d stream of consciousness he issues, it’s hard to remember everything grossly deficient about him.

    51
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ger Whelan
    Favourite Ger Whelan
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 6:15 PM

    @John Flanagan: Little over dramatic? Now I’m not his biggest fan but when “did” trump destroy the world?.

    44
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Michael Whyte
    Favourite Michael Whyte
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 10:23 PM

    @John John: Trump recently had a meeting with oil executives in which he proposed to them favourable economic policy in return for campaign funding. Trump is in thrall to the corporations too.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John arse
    Favourite John arse
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:58 PM

    He has made his decision but has forgotten what it was.

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute smatrix mantra
    Favourite smatrix mantra
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:08 PM

    Biden paved the way for Trump. What a legacy.

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fr. Fintan Stack
    Favourite Fr. Fintan Stack
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:06 PM

    @087 bed: Comment straight from Orwell Road standard narrative. Why would we get to vote on this?
    Maybe you should concentrate on your own fascist president who for some reason has no opposition. I wonder why

    42
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute 087 bed
    Favourite 087 bed
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:19 PM

    @Fr. Fintan Stack: So anyone talking sense or fact is Russian, Good grief you are slow.

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robert Halvey
    Favourite Robert Halvey
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 3:57 PM

    If your lucky enough to have a grand parent and if people and organisations consistently abused them , I know what I would do , I would turn the narrative back on the lying treacherous sex offender fraudster orange thing, and the epistine files

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pól Pot
    Favourite Pól Pot
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 4:05 PM

    @Robert Halvey: The Epistinians shall be freed back unto their rightful lands.

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ger Whelan
    Favourite Ger Whelan
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 4:14 PM

    @Robert Halvey: what the actual F are you talking about?

    61
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robert Halvey
    Favourite Robert Halvey
    Report
    Jul 11th 2024, 2:51 PM

    @Ger Whelan: all iam saying lad is Biden old and has slowed done a bit . But you and yours ignore the lying treacherous sex offender fraudster orange things old aswell

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ger Whelan
    Favourite Ger Whelan
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 5:29 PM

    @087 bed: Ukraine cannot join NATO while it’s still at war with Russia. NATO allowing Ukraine to join while it’s at war is NATO declaring war on Russia which won’t happen. So you can stop crying.

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute marklars81
    Favourite marklars81
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 4:27 PM

    The headline is 5 words too long

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James T.Kirk
    Favourite James T.Kirk
    Report
    Jul 11th 2024, 5:40 AM

    Stick to acting George!

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eric Gaffney
    Favourite Eric Gaffney
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 11:17 PM

    Clooney up to his neck in it. Oddball.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Phillip Smyth
    Favourite Phillip Smyth
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 6:02 PM

    Take the fifth Joe.

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Brown
    Favourite Peter Brown
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 7:22 PM

    Biden has got to be the greatest president of all time!!!!!

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Peter Brown
    Favourite Peter Brown
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 7:38 PM

    @Peter Brown:… Lol

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Oh Mammy
    Favourite Oh Mammy
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 10:13 PM

    Who said to Putin – Wait till after the election. I will have more flexibility?

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Conor Craddock
    Favourite Conor Craddock
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 8:31 PM

    I appreciate the ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou’ reference in the Clooney sub-headline.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Séamas Mac Cárthaigh
    Favourite Séamas Mac Cárthaigh
    Report
    Jul 10th 2024, 7:21 PM

    Donald will betray everyone. He has nothing left to lose. He’s all in. I do believe him when he said he would be dictator for a day, it’s all it would take to subdue the USA with the military on his side.

    Come to Jesus, Joe!

    10
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute J French
    Favourite J French
    Report
    Jul 11th 2024, 8:36 AM

    I just read the headline and I knew it Nolan

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Robert Halvey
    Favourite Robert Halvey
    Report
    Jul 11th 2024, 10:38 AM

    I would vote for a dead joe before I would use my spit to save the lying treacherous sex offender fraudster orange thing from dehydration

    6
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds