Officials said a forest fire broke out on Tuesday, cutting off the main highway connecting Athens with northern and southern Greece because the country is under severe heat waves.
As the fire spread at the foot of Mount Panisa, 30 kilometers north of the capital, the Civil Defense Department issued warnings to residents to stay vigilant.
Local media reported that dozens of children had been evacuated from a holiday camp near the Varympompi suburb.
The fire brigade said that five helicopters, four water bombers, 35 fire trucks and 104 firefighters are fighting the fire in the area, which includes Tatoy, the summer residence of the former Greek royal family.
Prime Minister Kyriacos Mizotakis said this week:
We are facing the worst heat wave since 1987.
Experts warn that climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of wildfires.
On Saturday, a fire broke out near the city of Patras, 200 kilometers west of Athens, which destroyed more than 3,000 hectares of pine and olive trees. It is controlled on Monday.
The Deputy Minister of Civil Defense Nikos Hardalias announced that Greece had 1,584 fires in July, compared with 953 in 2019, and 116 new fires in the past 24 hours alone.
This week, the temperature is expected to reach as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).
Since Sunday, a fire in Rhodes, Greece, near the coast of Turkey, has been burning, and firefighters are trying to gain the upper hand.
Turkey is suffering from its worst fire in at least a decade, claiming the lives of eight people and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate to the southern region popular with tourists.
