ATHENS, Greece — More than 600 firefighters, including reinforcements from several European countries and backed by a fleet of water-dropping planes and helicopters, were tackling the remnants of three major wildfires in Greece Sunday, two of which have been raging for days.
Greece has been plagued by daily outbreaks of dozens of fires over the past week as gale-force winds and hot, dry summer conditions combined to whip up flames and hamper firefighting efforts. Across the country, firefighters were battling 105 wildfires on Sunday, with 46 of them having broken out in the 24 hours between Saturday evening and Sunday evening, the fire department said.
Authorities are investigating the causes of the blazes, with arson suspected in some.
In Greece’s northeastern regions of Evros and Alexandroupolis, a massive wildfire believed to have caused 20 of the 21 wildfire-related deaths in the past week, was burning for a ninth day.
The blaze, where smaller fires combined to form one of the largest single wildfires ever to have struck a European Union country, has decimated vast tracts of forest and burned homes in outlying areas of the city of Alexandroupolis.
On Sunday, 295 firefighters, seven planes and five helicopters were tackling flare-ups that were creating new fire fronts, triggering evacuation orders for two villages, one in the Evros region and another in the Rodopi region.
The wildfire has scorched 77,000 hectares (297 square miles) of land and had 120 active hotspots, the European Union’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service said Sunday.
Copernicus is the EU space program’s Earth observation component and uses satellite imagery to provide mapping data.
Pope Francis, addressing the public in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Sunday, said he wanted to express assurances that he is remembering “in prayer the victims of the fires that have burned in these days in northeast Greece.”
He also expressed “supportive closeness” to the Greek people.
On the northwestern fringes of the Greek capital, another major wildfire burning for days was now limited to flare-ups and was being tackled by 160 firefighters, one plane and three helicopters. The fire has already scorched homes and part of a national park on Mount Parnitha, one of the last green areas near Athens.