Greece Wildfires: Businesses, Homes Destroyed, PM Calls it a Nightmarish Summer

A firefighter battles against a wildfire at Varibobi, Acharnes, Greece.

(Photo credits: IANS)

Video Producer: Mayank Chawla
Video Editor: Mohd. Irshad Alam

As wildfires continue to ravage parts of Greece for the last seven to eight days, their Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis talked of a "nightmarish summer", which has already seen over thousands being evacuated from their homes.

Over a thousand firefighters have been deployed across the country to bring the flames under control.

This is the worst heatwave the country has experienced in more than 30 years. Dozens of homes and businesses have been destroyed.

PM Mitsotakis said the government's priority has been "first and foremost , to protect human lives", BBC reported. According to the European Forest Fire Information System, more than 56,000 hectares of land have burnt in Greece over the last seven to eight days. The governor for central Greece, Fanis Spanos, said the situation in the northern portions of the island had been "very difficult", Reuters reported.

Wildfires have broken in the last few days, with the largest ones in Greece's second island called Evia. More than 2,000 people have been evacuated here. There are also fires in the Peloponnese including Arkadia and Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games.

A number of countries have offered support to Greece to fight the wildfires. UK, France, Romania, and Switzerland have sent firefighters to the country.

Climate change increases the risk of hot, dry weather, that is likely to fuel wildfires.

(With inputs from BBC and Reuters.)