A man lost his life on Friday as multiple forest fires, fueled by gale-force winds, ravaged Greece’s southern tip, prompting evacuations, according to the fire brigade.
The 55-year-old man sustained injuries in a blaze in the Ilia region on the Peloponnese peninsula and later succumbed at a hospital, as confirmed by a fire service official.
Firefighters, supported by aircraft, were dispatched to combat the forest fires in Ilia, the nearby Achaia region, and near the town of Kranidi, also in the Peloponnese.
Residents of several villages in these areas were instructed to evacuate their homes as the flames approached.
While wildfires are common in the Mediterranean country, their impact has intensified due to hotter and drier summers, a phenomenon attributed to climate change by scientists.
With wind speeds reaching up to 95 kph (60 mph), firefighting aircraft operations faced challenges, as reported by Greek fire brigade spokesperson Vasilis Vathrakogiannis.
During a televised briefing, Vathrakogiannis emphasized that all civil protection forces remained on high alert, given the outbreak of approximately 45 wildfires across the country within a few hours.
Earlier on Friday, firefighters successfully contained a forest fire that briefly threatened houses in a coastal town near the capital, Athens.