Greece battles wildfire in coastal town near capital

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By Stamos Prousalis and Angeliki Koutantou

PALAIA FOKAIA, Greece, June 26 (Reuters) – Greek firefighters on Thursday battled a wildfire that burned residences and holiday houses near the coastal town of Palaia Fokaia, 40 km (25 miles) south of Athens, forcing people to flee.

Fires have burnt throughout the week in Greece, on Europe’s hot, southernmost fringe, where frequent wildfires and floods in recent years have been exacerbated by a changing climate.

In the area of Palaia Fokaia, 130 firefighters were supported by 12 aircraft and 12 helicopters as they sought to put out flames that were whipped up by high winds.

Greek police have moved to safety 40 people, firebrigade spokesperson Vasilios Vathrakogiannis told a televised news conference, adding that coastguard vessels had sailed to the area to assist with more evacuations if needed.

“Firefighters are fighting a huge battle with the flames, mainly near houses,” he said, adding that a seaside roadway running across the affected areas was protectively cordoned off.

Reuters footage showed thick grey smoke rising over the region with lush vegetation, where air temperatures soared to 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) on Thursday.

Authorities said the risk of wildfires would remain high on Friday before the weather got cooler.

Greece has spent hundreds of millions of euros to compensate households and farmers for damage related to extreme weather and to acquire new and modern firefighting equipment to deal with wildfires, which have been made harder to contain by rising summer temperatures.

It has increased its number of firefighters to a record 18,000 this year in anticipation of another difficult wildfire season.

(Additional reporting by Alkis Konstantinidis; writing by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Barbara Lewis)