Greece orders partial evacuation of Athens suburb as wildfire burns

Greek Civil Protection on Friday ordered the partial evacuation of part of Haidari, a suburb west of Athens, after a forest fire broke out on a nearby mountain, according to an emergency mobile phone alert.

Haidari is located about 11 kilometres (seven miles) west of central Athens. Firefighters said the blaze was burning on a mountain near the suburb.

The fire, which broke out Friday morning in the Agios Vasilios area of Boeotia, was being tackled by more than 105 firefighters and 29 vehicles, the fire department said. 

The blaze was being fanned by gale force winds that were hampering water-dropping aircraft from flying over the area. The air turbulence meant that only one helicopter was able to take on water from the sea to fight the blaze.

Hot and dry conditions across Europe

Europe is the world's fastest-warming continent, with recent scientific studies confirming that ​human-caused climate change has created the hot and dry conditions experienced across the continent in recent months, leaving no respite for emergency crews.

Europe's ‌average temperature on Friday was forecast to be 24.9 degrees Celsius, 3.3 C above what was typical from 1961 to 1990, making it the continent furthest from its historic norm, data from the Reuters Climate Monitor showed.

The plumes of smoke and ash pumped into the atmosphere in recent weeks have exposed millions of people to health-damaging air pollution. Scientists have ‌said they are particularly concerned about emissions of fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, which is associated with cardiovascular diseases, lung cancer and respiratory problems.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)