Forest fire near Athens under control, but area on high alert

ATHENS: Greek firefighters said Friday that a forest blaze that had forced evacuations around Athens was under control, but warned that scorching temperatures were keeping fire risk at a highly elevated level around the capital and on northern Aegean islands.Greece has become particularly vulnerable in recent years to fires in the summer fuelled by strong winds, drought and high temperatures linked to climate change.The fire around Athens broke on Thursday afternoon near the towns of Palaia Fokaia and Thymari, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Athens, and forced the evacuation of five villages popular with local and foreign tourists.Though it was under control on Friday, a volatile combination of high temperatures and strong winds meant that a high risk of other fires breaking out remained, especially in the Attica region around the Greek capital and some islands in the north Aegean Sea, authorities said.A spokesman for the fire service told AFP that over 100 firefighters with 37 vehicles and a helicopter were on standby near Palaia Fokaia and Thymari.Fields, olive groves and some houses were ravaged by the blaze.The blaze came on the heels of another fire on the island of Chios, Greece’s fifth-largest island, which had destroyed more than 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of land in four days.Weather agencies forecast a heatwave in the coming days with temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), including in the capital Athens.