A wildfire broke out in the extreme northern Athens districts of Anoixi and Dionysos on early Thursday afternoon, reportedly ignited by lightning. Flames that erupted along the sides of a national roadway were subsequently contained in short order.
The fire brigade confirmed that the blaze resulted from intense lightning activity in the area. The same storm front has generated heavy rain and thunderstorms in many parts of Greece. The emergency number 112 has been activated for residents of the greater Athens-Piraeus. Due to severe lightning strikes, multiple blazes were also reported around Attica prefecture, which hosts the Greek capital and roughly half of the country’s population of 10 million.
Additionally, heavy rain and thunderstorms are forecast on the day eastern Macedonia and parts of central Macedonia (primarily the Thessaloniki and Halkidiki regions), as well as the northeast Aegean islands until the late afternoon.
In Thessaly and the Sporades islands, adverse weather is expected from morning until late afternoon. In central and eastern mainland Greece, including Attica, the eastern Peloponnese and Evia, the weather conditions are anticipated from midday to late afternoon.
