Greece is facing fires that experts unequivocally link to global warming, with temperatures hovering between 40 and 45 degrees Celsius.
"If some still wonder if climate change is a reality, let them come here to see the intensity of this phenomenon", declared the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, from the village of Ancient Olympia, theater of a worrying fire.
At the gates of Athens, a disaster about to be brought under control on Wednesday regained strength at the end of the day, fanned by the wind and spreading thick smoke over the Greek capital.
A worrying resumption of fire forced the evacuation of two villages, according to public television ERT.
Like Tuesday, acrid smoke spread Thursday afternoon over the capital, where the air quality was already highly degraded, according to the Athens National Observatory.
A preliminary investigation was opened Thursday by the prosecutor to determine the origin of this fire, at the foot of Mount Parnès, in particular after the publication of testimonies affirming that the fire would have started from the explosion of a factory of the company public electricity.
In addition, Greek firefighters were trying Thursday to protect the archaeological site where the first Olympic Games were held in Antiquity, in the west of the Peloponnese peninsula.
The village of Ancient Olympia, usually crowded with tourists in this season, as well as seven nearby towns had been evacuated the day before.
"Titanic effort"
"We are making a titanic effort on several fronts," Greek Deputy Minister of Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias said on Wednesday.
Some 200 km east of Athens, another uncontrolled fire has been raging since Tuesday on the huge island of Evia, where several villages and a monastery were surrounded by flames, after being emptied of their occupants.
"I left with my children, my wife, my grandchildren, I saved what I could. But it's a disaster, everything burned down in the village," Ioannis Aslanis told AFP .
"It's a very sad moment. But luckily everyone is fine," Konstantinos Konstantinidis observes.
"Climate deregulation"
More than 110 fires have ravaged forests in Greece in the past 24 hours, and 180 in Turkey since the end of July.
According to the EU's Copernicus Earth Observatory, this July is the second hottest month on record in Europe.
"We are in a phase of absolute climatic deregulation," said Deputy Minister Nikos Hardalias this week.
At this stage, "we are no longer talking about climate change, but about a climate threat".
In both countries, the authorities were facing pressure from the locals, who considered that the means to fight these fires were insufficient.
"We urge the authorities to strengthen the air and ground forces so as not to risk human lives," said Giorgos Tsapourniotis, mayor of Limni, on the island of Evia.
With AFP
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