ATHENS, Greece – Thousands of people fled wildfires burning out of control in Greece and Turkey on Friday, as a protracted heat wave turned forests into tinderboxes and flames threatened populated areas, electricity installations and historic sites.
On the Greek island of Evia, the coast guard mounted a major operation to evacuate hundreds of people by sea, using patrol boats as well as fishing and private vessels to rescue residents and vacationers from encroaching flames overnight and into Friday.
Dozens of other villages and neighborhoods were emptied in the southern Peloponnese region and just north of the Greek capital as blazes raced through pine forests.
“We’re talking about the apocalypse, I don’t know how to describe it,” Sotiris Danikas, head of the coast guard in the town of Aidipsos on Evia, told state broadcaster ERT according to AP.
Coast guard spokesman Nikos Kokkalas told ERT that 653 people had been evacuated from beaches in northeast Evia after all other means of escape were cut off by the fires.
Fires have raged in many parts of Greece as the country has been baked by a prolonged heat wave that sent temperatures soaring to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).
Thousands of people have fled their homes or holiday accommodation, while at least 20 people, including four firefighters, have been treated for injuries. Two of the firefighters were in intensive care in Athens, while another two were hospitalized with light burns, the Health Ministry said.
In neighboring Turkey, wildfires described as the worst in decades have swept through swaths of the southern coast for the past 10 days, killing eight people.
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