Major fire in northern Athens forces residents to flee on foot

Firefighting planes resumed operation at first light in Greece on Wednesday (4 August) to tackle a major fire that had broken out on the northern outskirts of Athens that forced thousands of residents to flee their homes on cars, and on foot, the previous day in the country’s worst heatwave in decades.

The forest fire in Varibobi and Tatoi – two northern suburbs of Athens – was the worst of 81 wildfires that broke out around the country in 24 hours from late Monday to late Tuesday.