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Athens, Greece — More than 600 firefighters, including reinforcements from several European countries, backed by a fleet of water-dropping planes and helicopters, were battling three large lingering wildfires in Greece on Sunday, two of which have been raging for days.
A huge fire in the country’s northeastern regions of Evros and Alexandroupolis, believed to have killed 20 people, burns for a ninth day.
The fire, one of the largest forest fires to ever hit a European Union country, has decimated large tracts of forest and burned houses in the outlying areas of the city of Alexandroupolis. On Sunday, 295 firefighters, seven planes and five helicopters were dealing with the problem, according to the fire department.
The wildfire has burned 77,000 hectares (770 square kilometers) of land and had 120 hot spots, the European Union’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service said on Sunday.
Copernicus is the Earth observation component of the EU space program and uses satellite imagery to provide mapping data.
On the northwestern outskirts of the Greek capital, another massive forest fire has been raging for days, burning houses and razing Mount Parnitha National Park, one of the last green areas near Athens. The fire department said 260 firefighters, an airplane and three helicopters were trying to control the flames.
A third major forest fire started on the Cycladic island of Andros on Saturday and was still burning out of control on Sunday; 73 firefighters, two planes and two helicopters put out the fire. Lightning is suspected to have caused that forest fire.
Greece has been plagued by daily outbreaks of dozens of fires for the past week as hurricane-force winds and hot, dry summer conditions combined to fan the flames and hamper suppression efforts. On Saturday, firefighters extinguished 122 fires, including 75 that broke out in the 24 hours between Friday night and Saturday night, the fire department said.
With firefighting forces stretched thin, Greece has asked other European countries for help. Germany, Sweden, Croatia and Cyprus have sent planes, while dozens of Romanian, French, Czech, Bulgarian, Albanian, Slovak and Serbian firefighters are helping on the ground.
With their hot and dry summers, the southern European countries are particularly prone to forest fires. European Union officials have blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in Europe, noting that 2022 was the second worst year on record for wildfire damage after 2017.
The causes of the two biggest fires in Greece have yet to be determined. For some of the smaller fires, authorities have said arson or negligence is suspected, and several people have been arrested.
On Saturday, fire department officials arrested two men, one on the island of Evia and the other in the Larissa region of central Greece, for allegedly deliberately setting dry grass and vegetation on fire to start forest fires.
Greece imposes forest fire prevention rules, typically from early May to late October, to limit activities such as burning dry vegetation and the use of outdoor barbecues.
As of Friday, fire department officials had arrested 163 people on fire-related charges since the start of the fire prevention season, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said, including 118 for negligence and 24 for arson. Police have made another 18 arrests, he said.
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