Rain overnight in wildfire-ravaged areas of Greece have helped “improve the situation” on Thursday, a local mayor said, but hundreds of firefighters were still battling to contain new flare-ups, France 24 reports.
Fires fanned by Greece's most severe heatwave in decades -- which authorities have blamed on climate change -- have burnt through nearly 100,000 hectares over the last fortnight, leaving three dead, hundreds homeless, thousands forced to evacuate, and economic and environmental devastation in their wake.
“The fire fronts are still active” on the island of Evia and the Arcadia region of the Peloponnese peninsula and "fires are constantly flaring up" in both areas, a firefighting official told AFP.
And a new fire broke out on Thursday morning in a forested area of Aspropyrgos, 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of Athens.
After weeks of punishing temperatures often well over 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), a lower 33 degrees Celsius was forecast for Thursday.
The falling temperatures and overnight rain in Evia, the Peloponnese and central Greece had helped "improve the situation," said Stathis Koulis, the mayor of Gortynia.
The village of Gortynia in a mountainous area of Arcadia 200 kilometers (120 miles) west of Athens has become the primary focus in the Peloponnese, with deep ravines posing a challenge to firefighters.
Twenty villages have been evacuated in the area over the past few days and 680 firefighters, including more than a hundred sent to help from France, and five water-dropping aircraft have been relentlessly battling the flames.
Greek firefighters have been bolstered by more than 1,200 reinforcements from numerous countries particularly in Europe, as well as vehicles and equipment.
Nearly 100,000 hectares of forests and farmland have burned ince July 29 in Greece's worst wildfires since 2007, the European Forest Fire Information System said.
