Firefighters in Greece struggle to save coastal resort as winds rage

Hundreds of firefighters in Greece battled on Saturday to save the coastal resort of Porto Germeno, northwest of Athens, as strong winds hampered operations. The fire department said over 300 firefighters were operating in the area. A spokesman said the fire reached the sea and homes were damaged. The fire broke out Friday near Agios Vasileios; about 300 people were rescued by sea. Meteorologist Theodore Giannaros said damage was 'inconceivable' and the affected area exceeded 4-5,000 hectares. Three firefighters have died this week. A maximum fire risk alert was issued for Saturday.

Hundreds of firefighters in Greece battled on Saturday to save the coastal resort of Porto Germeno, about 70 kilometers northwest of Athens in the region of Viotia, as violent winds continued to hamper operations. The fire department said over 300 firefighters were operating in the area. A fire department spokesman told AFP that the fire had reached the sea and that homes had certainly been damaged. He added that strong winds were preventing some aircraft from operating, and they had been transferred to another fire in the Peloponnese where conditions were milder. The fire broke out Friday near the neighboring coastal village of Agios Vasileios. Residents initially ignored a civil protection call to evacuate, and some 300 people had to be rescued by sea. Theodore Giannaros, a wildfire meteorologist and senior researcher at the National Observatory of Athens, said on Saturday that the damage to the Porto Germeno area was 'inconceivable.' In a Facebook post, he said the affected area appeared to exceed 4-5,000 hectares. Wildfires have flared in several parts of the country this week, including on the island of Crete, and three firefighters have so far lost their lives. On Friday, another fire threatened the suburb of Haidari, west of Athens, which had to be partly evacuated. A maximum fire risk alert has been issued for Saturday in the greater Athens area, parts of the Peloponnese and Crete, central Greece, and the border region with Turkey. Greece's geography, with its hundreds of islands, complicates the rapid deployment of emergency responders. The country is plagued by wildfires every summer due to high temperatures, frequent heat waves, and drought. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned on Thursday that Greece was headed for 'difficult days.'