A wildfire that broke out west of Athens has burned roughly 11,100 hectares across Attica and Boeotia, destroyed more than 100 homes and killed two aircrew, as a record hot and dry summer continues to drive fires across southern Europe.
The blaze began July 31 near Psatha and Porto Germeno, on the northern shore of the Gulf of Corinth. Copernicus satellite mapping put the burned area at about 11,100 hectares by midday August 2, roughly 8,080 of them at Porto Germeno, according to the EU Space Programme.
More than 1,000 people have been evacuated, including more than 250 taken off beaches by boat, the Associated Press reported. About 500 Greek firefighters were deployed with trucks, heavy equipment and aircraft, joined by crews from France and Romania.
Two crew members died August 2 when two firefighting helicopters collided near Psatha. A Greek and a Danish national were killed and two others hospitalized, the AP reported. All four aircraft were operated by private contractors chartered by the Greek firefighting service.
A separate blaze forced evacuations on the resort island of Kefalonia, Reuters reported. Fires have also been recorded in Fokida, Megara and the Kareas district of northeast Athens.
The Greek fires are part of a broader European season. France has passed roughly 115,000 hectares burned this year, a national record, with the Gironde fire alone accounting for about 42,000 hectares and prompting more than 220,000 evacuations. Portugal has lost about 30,000 hectares.
By August 4, fires across the continent had killed at least 17 civilians, six firefighters and two helicopter crew, and displaced roughly 330,000 people in Spain and France alone.
Much of the United Kingdom recorded its driest July in nearly two centuries. Scientists attribute the conditions to repeated heat waves and low rainfall linked to climate change.