Greece on Sunday was battling a spate of wildfires which have forced the evacuation of hundreds of people, as experts warn of more extreme weather conditions to come next week.
Firefighters were battling a “dangerous” fire near Athens on Sunday night, with smoke covering parts of the capital in a haze.
By Sunday afternoon, firefighters had quickly dealt with 33 out of the 40 blazes that had broken out in the past 24 hours, fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told the press at an emergency briefing.
But the force was battling seven more in the high Mediterranean summer heat, he said.
A force of more than 400 firefighters backed by 110 vehicles, 29 firefighting aircraft and helicopters was deployed to battle the flames, which “in many cases reached more than 25 meters high”, Vathrakogiannis said.