Greece fires: One dead, strong winds to spread fire as Athens seaside town evacuated

• Greece’s worst wildfire of the year has left one woman dead after erupting in Lake Marathon on Sunday.

• International aid from France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Serbia and Romania arrived to the ground to assist firefighting teams.

• Hundreds of residents have been evacuated from suburbs of Athens with dozens of homes and businesses burned.

• Officials have issued an evacuation alert for a touristic hotspot in the seaside town of Nea Makri.

• More than a dozen people have been treated by paramedics, mostly for smoke inhalation, while five firefighters suffered light burns and breathing problems, the fire department said.

• Greek minister Vassilis Kikilias declared that “forty hours after the extremely dangerous wildfire broke out in Varnava” but “we now say that there is no active front, only scattered hotspots.”

• The country remains on high fire alert after meteorologists fear strong winds reaching up to 60-70 kilometers (37-43 miles) could pick up again.

Residents who witnessed the deadly Greek wildfire raging towards their homes have said they felt like they were witnessing the “end of the world just beyond our doorstep”.

Roberta Kapsalis, who lives in the seaside town of Schinias in Marathon, revealed the harrowing moment the flames approached her area.

She told Metro: “The fire has been nothing short of a nightmare, a real-life ‘Apocalypse Now’. Watching this massive blaze approach has been surreal, like something out of a dark fantasy.

“The sight of the flames consuming everything in their path, inching closer and closer, has felt like a slow-motion horror movie.

“It reminded me vividly of the scenes from The Lord of the Rings when Sauron’s ominous presence looms over Middle-Earth, with his fiery eye burning in the sky.”

Serious forest fire is raging out of control on the outskirts of the Greek capital and tourists are being evacuated in the suburbs of Athens.

Traveling to Greece has not been officially advised against but holidaymakers who have booked a trip to the capital should contact their travel provider for guidance.

Flights are continuing normally for now at Athens airport: smoke can be seen from planes taking off, our travel correspondent Simon Calder writes.

The standard approach for arriving aircraft has been to loop around to the south of Athens, over the Saronic Gulf, and land from southwest to northeast.

Departing aircraft are taking off normally over the Petalioi Gulf. There is no immediate threat to the airport as the area surrounding it is partly built up, and the open land has very little vegetation.

Three flights from London Heathrow landed at Eleftherios Venizelos in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and several more are under way: easyJet from London Gatwick, Ryanair from Luton and Jet2 from Manchester.

Jet2 is telling passengers: “We are aware of the wildfires affecting an area of Athens and are monitoring the situation closely.

“As it currently stands, Athens airport is still open and we are planning to operate our flights as planned. Please allow extra time for your journey to the airport, as there may be road closures in place.”

The worst wildfires of the year in Greece are expanding rapidly as satellite images reveal vast areas covered under a thick shroud of smoke.

The fires, which erupted on Sunday near Lake Marathon, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Athens.

The blaze raced across Mount Penteli and descended into the northern suburbs of Athens, triggering widespread evacuations and claiming at least one life.

Firefighters found the burned body of a woman in an industrial building in the suburb of Vrilissia just after midnight.

The woman, an employee of the business, was believed to have become trapped inside the building in an area that had been under evacuation orders. 

Turkey’s Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said two firefighting planes and one helicopter had taken off Tuesday morning headed to Greece. 

Helicopters, planes and hundreds of firefighters and vehicles were arriving from France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Romania. “I wish all the best to our colleagues who work with the motto ‘Forests are the world’s common heritage,”’ Yumakli posted on the social media platform X.

The Greek fire department has appealed to residents to follow evacuation orders, with authorities noting that some people who had refused to leave their homes later became trapped.

Col. Vassileios Vathrakogiannis, the fire department’s spokesman, said: “During the night, the wind remained strong, creating dangerous situations.”

“Unfortunately their intensity is expected to increase in the coming hours, and in any case citizens of the areas where the fire is developing must follow the directions of authorities,” he added.