ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of firefighters and volunteers in southern Greece battled a wildfire for a third day that has killed two people and devastated a large forested area, prompting pledges of assistance from other European Union countries.
Two waterbombing aircraft from Italy joined the firefighting effort late Tuesday after Greece requested help through the 27-country bloc’s emergency civil protection mechanism. A third plane from Croatia was also expected.
The Greek fire service said more than 400 firefighters, assisted by 22 aircraft, were engaged against the blaze in the rugged mountains of Corinthia in the Peloponnese region.
The authorities were optimistic that progress had been made as the main front of the blaze was out, leaving a large number of scattered fires. However, it remained unclear whether that success could be expanded on before winds whipped up and spread the blaze again.
Greece’s minister for climate change and civil protection, Vassilis Kikilias, said so far up to 5,000 hectares (12,300 acres) had been affected by the blaze.
“The situation is very difficult,” he told a press conference. “We didn’t expect that at this time of year … there would be so many wildfires and that they would be so difficult to handle.”
While wildfires are common in the summer, this year the season started much earlier than usual, in April, and has extended well into the fall. The fire service said a total of 41 wildfires broke out all over the country over the past 24 hours.
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said firefighters had been hampered in their initial response Sunday by the difficult terrain and poor road network.
“During the first, crucial stage of the fire, firetrucks had great difficulty approaching (the blaze) because of the narrow roads,” he said. “The many ravines and the gale-force winds blowing that day greatly impeded” the firefighting effort, Marinakis added.
Officials ordered that another village be evacuated as a precaution Tuesday, a day after half a dozen similar orders were issued. A major highway that was closed overnight as flames swept close by was reopened on Tuesday.
The blaze destroyed a historic church in the mountains and reportedly damaged buildings outside the threatened villages, but the fire service was not immediately able to provide further details.
The two victims were identified as local residents who got trapped late Sunday by the fast-advancing blaze.
Greece, like other southern European countries, is plagued every summer by destructive wildfires that have been exacerbated by global warming. Over the past few months, the fire service has had to cope with more than 4,500 wildfires — which Kikilias said was the highest number ever recorded in a single fire season.
This year’s had been flagged as the most dangerous season in two decades after the countryside was left parched by a protracted drought and early summer heatwaves.
Still, Greece’s big investments in extra water-bombing aircraft, warning drones and other equipment have led to most blazes being extinguished shortly after they broke out.