Athens wildfire losing intensity, firefighters say

• A wildfire whipped up by gale-force winds in a southern suburb of Athens.
• 283 firefighters in 65 vehicles and groups of bystanders battled to control fire.
• No casualties reported, but neighborhoods were evacuated as the wind changed.

A wildfire whipped up by gale-force winds in a southern suburb of Athens on Saturday, forcing residents to evacuate and damaging properties, has faded in intensity as the winds have dropped, The fire brigade said on Sunday.

Overnight, 283 firefighters in 65 vehicles and groups of bystanders battled the fire to bring it under control.

And two firefighting planes and two helicopters were still in operation early Sunday.

On Saturday, the Greek Civil Protection agency had issued an emergency appeal via SMS for people to leave the suburb of Ano Voula.

Read more: Greece evacuates Athens suburb under wildfire threat

Officials reported no casualties, but four more neighborhoods were evacuated as the wind changed direction and drove the fire front towards the town of Vari later on Saturday evening.

Giorgos Papanikolaou, the mayor of Glyfada, where the fire first broke out, said that it started at a high voltage electricity power station.

Last summer, Greece’s most severe heatwave in decades, which authorities blamed on climate change, saw fires destroy more than 100,000 hectares of forest and farmland, the country’s worst wildfire damage since 2007.

More than 200 firefighters and technical equipment provided by European Union countries will be deployed to Greece in the near future to aid in the fight against large wildfires.

The deployment will be coordinated by the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism and will include Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Romania, and Norway.

Read more: As high heat is anticipated in the East, wildfire efforts in the West will receive some reprieve.