Greece heatwave latest: New fire ‘every ten minutes’ amid hunt for arsonist and search for missing American

Firefighters are facing an uphill struggle containing new fires popping up all over Greece.

“Almost every 10 minutes a new fire breaks out,” a fire service spokesman said in a televised statement.

It came as Greece’s National Meteorological Service predicting winds as strong as 46mph over the rest of the week, further impeding firefighter’s efforts.

Temperatures in parts of the mainland were forecast to climb as high as 41C (106F) on Thursday.

“Even the smallest fire can rapidly turn into a fiery front,” Kikilias said in an X post, commenting on the arrest of a man who accidentally triggered a fire on Tuesday near the city of Serres in northern Greece.

CCTV footage showing an arsonist setting fire to dry weeds is in the hands of Fire Brigade and Greek police investigators, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said.

“The fire spread very fast, but there are documented indications that its cause was not weather conditions alone,” Kikilias said, referring to high-velocity winds hampering firefighters.

“The Fire Brigade and Greek police investigators have visual material that clearly shows an arsonist setting fire to dry weeds on the Vari-Koropi road, while a can of petroleum and a cloth to ignite the fire were found nearby.

“When we have permission from the Fire Brigade and Hellenic Police’s Directorate of Managing Crimes of Arson, we shall release the material to the public.”

Strong firefighting forces remain to prevent flare-ups, with 155 firefighters, four ground teams, 45 vehicles, six aircraft, and 12 helicopters currently deployed around Athens.

Two villages and three private schools near the town of Koropi were evacuated as a precaution, authorities said, with traffic cut off in the vicinity.

“Fire spread rapidly in the area due to very strong winds with gusts that reached force eight on the Beaufort scale,” equal to gale speeds of 62 to 74 kilometers per hour, fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told the press.

With temperatures reaching 37C in the Attica region surrounding the capital, Greece’s civil protection services warned of a “very high” fire risk Wednesday and Thursday in several parts of the country.

Civil protection minister Vassilis Kikilias said officials have verified indications that the fire near Athens was the result of arson as well as extreme weather conditions.

He said there is a video and photos of the suspected arsonist and authorities will publish them.

In Koropi, a storage facility and at least one home were burned, and flames crept into a boat dry dock and across fields of dry grass and olive trees. Authorities evacuated two nearby villages.

There were no reports of deaths or injuries.

One of the two French women who went missing on a Greek Island last week sent a distressing text to the hotel she was staying at before vanishing.

Authorities on the island of Sikinos are desperately searching for two French hikers,, aged 73 and 64, after the pair went missing on Friday.

It has emerged that the 73-year-old sent message to the owner of the guest house she was staying at in the morning. Ilias Gavanas told Reuters he last heard from her on Friday when he reached her by phone around 8:30am after missing a call from her at 5:50am.

He said the woman had sent him a selfie and a message saying: “I am fall”. He replied in French and English asking for her location and telling her to call the European emergency number 112, and alerted police and municipal authorities.

The brother of American tourist Albert Calibet who has been missing for over a week on the island of Amorgos, Greece, says chances are very slim he will find the missing former police officer.

In a tearful YouTube video Oliver Calibet, who arrived from California last week to join the search operation, said that Greece is doing what it can with its limited resources, but “I don’t know why the US can’t come here and help. The US is doing nothing.”

He continued: “I’m flabbergasted. This is a small little island. He should have been found days ago if the US had put in a little, a tiny little effort.”

As well as record temperatures, Greece is expected to see record tourism this year. In a forecast published days before the heatwave, the National Bank of Greece said tourism is up 24 per cent in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period a year earlier. The analysts said a 20 per cent rise in international arrivals in spring suggests the country will face a longer season than expected.

On Thursday, the Greek ombudsman issued a separate report warning that the country needs to see urgent changes if it wants to see continued growth in tourism. It warned of the growing environmental risks and called for urgent reform.

It said the country needs to reduce rampant construction and protect water resources and coastal areas if it wants to maintain a healthy tourism industry across its mountainous mainland and beach-lined islands.

“Our country’s economy relies heavily on tourism which makes the need to manage it in a sustainable way even more urgent,” the report said.

An American tourist who died in Greece has been identified.

Toby Sheets, a Floral Park resident for more than 20 years, was found on a beach on the Greek island of Mathraki on Sunday, his family told CBS News.

Sheets, 55, worked as the longtime assistant trainer to horse racing Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, the leading horse trainer in North America by wins.

His father told CBS News Sheets was “a very hard worker and he was doing what he loved, training horses” and “will be dearly missed.”

“New York’s horse racing community grieves the loss of Toby Sheets, and NYRA extends our condolences to Toby’s family and legion of friends.” added Patrick McKenna of the New York Racing Association.

Two people have died from heatstroke in Cyprus, while others are fighting for their life in hospital, health officials have said.

On Friday, an elderly person died from heatstroke after the weeklong heatwave with reportedly record temperatures for the month of June, with temperatures in excess of 40C.

An 84-year-old woman died a day after her admission to a hospital on Friday, said State Health Services Organisation spokesman Charalambos Charilaou. He said another three elderly patients were in serious condition.

Firefighters and aircraft in Greece battled a blaze in the town just 30 kilometres south of Athens on Wednesday.

Strong winds fanned the flames and forced residents in Koropi to flee their homes and businesses.

Traffic was suspended along a main highway connecting Koropi to Athens suburbs. One storage facility was on fire and flames crept into a boat dry dock and across fields of dry grass and olive trees, images on local TV showed.

Read the full article here from my colleague Rich Booth: