A total of 64 wildfires were reported throughout Greece on Friday amid very arid and hot day-time conditions in the southern half of the country, a situation made even more ominous with strong winds blowing.
Forty-six of the blazes were immediately contained, with the most affected areas being brushland, some agricultural tracts and lastly forestland.
One related fatality was reported on the day, with a volunteer firefighter battling flames near the southwest city of Pyrgos, in the northwest Peloponnese, passing out and later dying at a nearby hospital. No cause of death was issued as yet.
A trio of the most dogged wildfires burning after nightfall were all in the Peloponnese, Greece’s southern-most province, with the fire front at the remote Mastrandoni site in Achaia prefecture deemed as the worst.
Indicative of the wildfire’s extent was the fielding of up to 120 fire-fighters operating 43 vehicles, along with local volunteers, machinery from local municipalities and 19 aircraft joining the fire-fighting efforts until nightfall.
Another serious blaze was near the eastern Peloponnese town of Kranidi, near the upscale Porto Heli coastal resort.
Meanwhile, closer to the greater Athens area, a wildfire erupted near the coastal highway southeast of the Greek capital, at the Mavro Lithari site, which led to a temporary closure of the Athens to Sounion roadway.
