Residents flee as wildfire rages uncontrolled near Athens
VARNAVA/ATHENS -Residents fled their homes in the village of Varnava near Athens on Sunday as fire crews struggled to contain a fast-moving wildfire fuelled by hot, windy weather that sent smoke clouds over the Greek capital.
"The village was surrounded in no time, in no time. It's really windy," resident Katerina Fylaktou told Reuters."It started from one point and suddenly the whole village was surrounded," she said. Hundreds of wildfires have broken out across Greece this summer, which has recorded its hottest June and July after its warmest winter. Like elsewhere in the Mediterranean, scientists have linked the fires to increasingly hot, dry weather driven by global climate change.
Greek fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said the Varnava blaze spread due to gale force winds.Another blaze in a forested area near the town of Megara, west of Athens, had been contained by Sunday afternoon, the fire brigade said."We are expecting a very difficult week," said Kostas Lagouvardos, research director of the Athens Observatory."If the Varnava blaze is not contained during the night, we will have a problem tomorrow," he said.
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