Greece wildfires: Winds fan 2 new blazes outside of Athens
Source: AP
By ELENA BECATOROS
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Fanned by strong winds, two new big wildfires erupted Monday in hard-hit Greece, triggering evacuation alerts for villages southeast and northwest of Athens — only days after blazes consumed large tracts of forest north of the Greek capital.
No injuries have been reported but Greek media said a few buildings had been damaged.
Greece has been roiled by hundreds of wildfires this month, on the heels of its most severe heat wave in decades, which left its forests tinder dry. Other Mediterranean countries — Turkey, Italy, Algeria and Spain among them — have suffered similar problems.
Scientists say there is little doubt that climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is driving more extreme weather events.
An helicopter drops water over a fire in Siderina village helicopter about 55 kilometers (34 miles) south of Athens, Greece, Monday, Aug. 16, 2021. Greek authorities have deployed dozens of firefighters, as well as six water-dropping planes and four aircraft to a wildfire that broke out Monday morning in the Keratea region southeast of Athens, near the national park of Sounion. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/europe-middle-east-fires-environment-and-nature-greece-c20f44f43e116b7afbbca28fed802348
