A fast-moving wildfire outside Athens has burnt trees, houses and cars, drawn residents from their homes and sent smoke clouds over the Greek capital.
The fire broke out at 3pm local time on Sunday in the sparsely-populated Varnavas area, about 35 kilometres from Athens.
Strong winds quickly drove it out of control, fanning a 30-kilometre-long front line of fire towards the capital, the ERT public broadcaster reported.
Almost 700 firefighters, supported by 33 water-bombing aircraft and 190 fire engines, have been battling the flames.
As night fell, firefighting aircraft returned to the ground and flames turned the sky orange.
"The situation remains dangerous as the fire is spreading between residences," fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said.
"During the night, the wind remained strong, creating dangerous situations," he said.
"Civil protection forces battled hard throughout the night, but despite superhuman efforts, the fire evolved rapidly."
"Unfortunately their intensity is expected to increase in the coming hours, and in any case citizens of the areas where the fire is developing must follow the directions of authorities."
He said the blaze spread fast, "like lightning", due to gale-force winds. Flames as high as 25 metres swallowed up trees and shrubland.
Thirteen people have been treated by rescuers and medical staff for smoke inhalation and two firefighters for burns, he said.
There are so far no reports of deaths.
Three hospitals in the area have been evacuated, government officials said.
"The village was surrounded in no time, in no time. It's really windy," resident Katerina Fylaktou said.
"It started from one point and suddenly the whole village was surrounded."
Local media reported two firefighters were slightly injured, while several civilians were treated in hospitals for smoke inhalation.
Greece 'expecting a very difficult week' for fire danger
The blaze reached the village of Grammatiko north of Athens, the seaside municipality of Nea Makri and the town of Marathonas on Monday.
Marathon Mayor Stergios Tsirkas told the Skai television channel the region was facing a "biblical catastrophe".
"Our whole town is engulfed in flames," he said.
Passenger ferries to the port of Rafina were diverted to Lavrio south-east of Athens due to the advancing flames.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cut short a holiday on the island of Crete to visit the fire brigade's operations centre on Monday.
Another blaze, in a forested area near the town of Megara, west of Athens, had been contained by Sunday afternoon, the fire brigade said.
However, Mr Vathrakogiannis said 40 areas previously under control appeared to be rekindling.
Several other regions across Greece were on high alert for fire risk on Sunday and Monday, including Marathon and several Athens suburbs.
By Monday the fire, the worst in Greece this year, had advanced to the fringes of Athens's densely populated northern suburbs around the heavily wooded Mount Penteli.
Authorities opened the Olympic stadium in northern Athens and offered rooms in hotels for evacuees.
More than 25 towns and villages have been forced to evacuate, Greek authorities said.
Simos Roussos, mayor of the Athens suburban municipality Halandri, ordered a "precautionary evacuation".
"The fire is very close," he told ERT.
Television footage showed flames burning among homes in Nea Penteli, a leafy Athens suburb which also told residents to relocate.
Police have so far helped evacuate more than 250 people.
"Forest fire near you. Follow the instructions of the authorities," SMS messages sent to people in the Attica region read, indicating in which direction to flee.
The fire department appealed to residents to follow evacuation orders issued by civil protection, with authorities noting that some people who had refused to leave their homes later became trapped and required rescuing, endangering the lives of firefighters.
"It hurts, we have grown up in the forest, we feel great sadness and anger," resident Marina Kalogerakou, 24, explained of those who chose to stay.
Another resident, Pantelis Kyriazis, said he tried to escape but crashed his car in the process.
"I couldn't see, I hit a pine tree and this is what happened."
By early evening, thick brown smoke hung over much of Athens and had reached the island of Aegina to its south.
"We are expecting a very difficult week," Kostas Lagouvardos, research director at the Athens Observatory, said.
"If the Varnavas blaze is not contained during the night, we will have a problem tomorrow."
Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said on Saturday that he had called for emergency measures involving the army, police and volunteers to deal with forest fires until August 15.
"Extremely high temperatures and dangerous weather conditions will prevail," he said.
"Half of Greece will be in the red."
Increased fire danger attributed to climate change
Hundreds of wildfires have broken out across Greece since May.
Scientists attribute their frequency and intensity to the increasingly hot and dry weather conditions linked to climate change.
After its warmest winter on record and long periods of little or no rainfall this year, Greece also registered its hottest June and July, and it is forecast to record its hottest-ever summer.
Temperatures this week are expected to reach up to 40C, with wind gusts expected of up to 50 kilometres per hour.
In April, a European Commission report said the 2023 wildfire season in Europe was among the worst this century.
Wildfires in Greece killed more than 20 people last year, including 18 migrants who became trapped by the flames as they trekked through a forest in north-eastern Greece and were caught by a fire that burned for more than two weeks.
In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee in their cars.
More than 100 people died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.
Reuters/AP/AFP
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