Two teenagers were arrested on arson charges on Tuesday after reportedly admitting to police that they started a blaze the previous evening in the foothills above the Ano Glyfada district, an incident that coincided with a massive fire-fighting effort to contain a conflagration in northeast Attica prefecture that gutted some 10,000 hectares of land and residences.
The two teens were arrested in connection with a fire that broke out late on Monday evening in the upscale coastal southeast Athens district, which is located in the foothills of Mt. Hymettus. The pair was arrested after reportedly being identified in video footage.
Both minors and their guardians were to appear before an Athens Juvenile Court on Tuesday following a fast-track procedure launched by police’s arson crimes directorate.
The two 14-year-olds confessed to setting the fire in the brushland above the Terpsithea neighborhood of Glyfada, claiming it was part of “a game”. An initial fine handed down was 4,640 euros each.
The court will decide on any additional sanctions.
A contingent of 48 firefighters, two foot patrol units, 13 vehicles and volunteers rushed to the scene, taking away from the efforts to battle the multi-front blaze northeast of Athens that at one point extended up to 30 kilometers in a semi-circle around mounts Penteli and Dionysos.
Fire-fighting forces in Greece remained on high alert into Tuesday fearing flare-ups of the massive wildfire that burned through settlements and villages. The latter spread uncontrolled on Sunday evening into Monday early morning and then threatened a handful of north Athens districts, such as Halandri, Palea and Nea Penteli.
