Emergency forces continue to battle spate of resurgent wildfires in southern Greece

Greece’s fire brigade, aided by volunteers and contingents from abroad, continued to battle with a spate of wildfires in the southern half of the country and on the Dodecanese island of Rhodes, with rekindled blazes comprising the main problem as of Thursday.

A multi-prong front in western Attica prefecture, due west of the greater Athens-Piraeus area, was still the most serious and ongoing wildfire incident.

Another wildfire was reported at the Lefkochoma site in southern Laconia prefecture, along with the serious blaze at the Artopios site on Rhodes.

Residents of another four remote and sparsely populated settlements in west Attica, near the working-class town of Mandra, were notified on Thursday afternoon by an emergency messaging system to evacuate.

A total of 62 wildfires were recorded in the east Mediterranean country over the past 24 hours, the vast majority of whom were quickly extinguished, according to the fire brigade.

A mini heatwave in the country this week, along with intermittent gusty winds and arid soil conditions, have again created “fertile ground” for wildfires in much of southern Greece – an annual summer scourge over the past decades.