A spate of wildfires that erupted mostly west of the greater Athens area were under partial control, the fire brigade announced later in the evening, while at the same time a Level 5 Threat was declared for the wider region.
The affected areas were described as mostly brushland near industrial sites and along Mt. Egaleo, looking over the region from the west.
Additionally, authorities reported the arrest of a man for starting a wildfire in the Varybobi district beneath Mt. Parnitha, an area that still has abundant greenspaces and forestland despite repeated and devastating wildfires over the past few years.
He’ll appear before a misdemeanor courts prosecutor on Friday on charges carrying stiffer sentences, as envisioned in a recently revised penal code.
The Varybobi blaze was the most serious reported on the day, with a large force of fire-fighters, vehicles and even aircraft employed.
Meanwhile, temperatures around much of southern Greece are expected to reach the 40C-mark on Friday, in tandem with very strong winds around the Aegean Sea.
The development has prompted civil defense authorities to declare Attica prefecture – which includes the greater Athens-Piraeus area – in a threat level 5, the highest alert.
South-central Greece, the Peloponnese and a handful of islands are also included in the level 5 threat.
