Star Metro - Greece battling wildfires amid high winds

By Sunday afternoon, firefighters had quickly dealt with 33 out of the 40 blazes that had broken out in the past 24 hours, fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told the press at an emergency briefing.

But the force was battling seven more in the high Mediterranean summer heat, he said.

The country's minister for civil protection had warned a day earlier that half the country was under a high-risk warning for fires due to high temperatures, wind gusts and drought conditions.

In the region of East Attica, an uncontrolled blaze in the Varnavas area spread to a pine forested zone with scattered houses, emitting so much smoke that Athens glowed red at one point on Sunday afternoon.

- Flames 25 metres high -

A force of 250 firefighters backed by 67 vehicles, 12 firefighting aircraft and seven helicopters was deployed to battle the flames, which "in many cases reached more than 25 metres high", Vathrakogiannis said.

In the nearby village of Metohi, which was yet to be threatened, Eugenia told AFP she was afraid of what might happen in the night.

"Every year we have to escape from our houses," she said speaking from the saddle of her motorbike fresh from checking up on her cats.

Another fire that erupted earlier on Sunday afternoon in Megara, West Attica, triggering an evacuation alert, was partially contained after destroying at least three houses and cars.

Forty-eight firefighters equipped with 13 vehicles and additional volunteers were working on the ground, along with aerial support.

In Thessaloniki, a fire in the Lagadas area was partially under control, with 20 firefighters, 10 vehicles and one helicopter at the scene.

- 'Extremely high temperatures' -

Temperatures are forecast to peak at 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) in Greece on Monday, with the highest temperatures expected in the west of the country.

Kostas Lagouvardos, director of research at the National Observatory of Athens, said on Sunday that given the current weather conditions, if the response to the fires was not quick enough the flames could quickly burn out of control.

With winds in some areas expected to reach 80 to 90 kilometres per hour, Lagouvardos told broadcaster ERT News that Sunday was expected to be the most difficult day to battle fires.

The Mediterranean country is exceptionally vulnerable to summer blazes, with this season seeing fires burn daily.

After the warmest winter on record, Greece also experienced its hottest June and July since reliable data collection began in 1960.

It registered its earliest recorded heatwave in June.

Scientists warn that human-induced fossil fuel emissions are worsening the length, frequency and intensity of heatwaves across the world.

The rising temperatures are leading to longer wildfire seasons and increasing the area burnt in the flames, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

S.Cloutier--SMC