Greece continues to battle with severe wildfires due to a prolonged heatwave in the region. A wildfire has now spread to Athens and has been labeled as the "worst fire of the year" as the flames go as high as 80 feet.
The blaze started at Lake Marathon, near Varnavas north of the capital at 3 PM local time on Sunday and spread to Athens the next day, prompting thousands of evacuations. As per the latest updates, the fires have killed one person.
As per the fire department, the body of a woman was found in a burnt building in the suburb of Vrilissia.
Due to the scale of the fire, Greece announced a red alert on late Monday night and prompted Europe’s mutual civil protection mechanism as it seeks assistance to douse the fires.
Neighbouring European countries such as Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Romania and Turkey have vowed to "stand by Greece" and sent in planes, aid and firefighters.
As per Fire Department spokesperson Col Vassileios Vathrakogiannis, firefighters continue to fight a single front but “many active localized blazes", around Marathon and Pendeli.
With the fires expected to rage on, the fire department has added that the conditions of new fires remain "dangerous" for the rest of the week as well.
Officials added that fires broke out in 40 different locations on Monday as flames reached as high as 25 metres. Offiicals also added that as of Monday night, 100,000 acres (405 sq km; 156 sq miles) of land has been burnt.
