Greece and Turkey fires – live: Thousands more flee blaze outside Athens as ‘extreme fire warning’ issued

Latest updates as wildfires rage for fourth day

Thousands of people in Greece have fled to safety from a wildfire burning for a fourth day north of Athens, amid the worst heatwave in the country for decades.

Greek authorities have warned of more fires, with emergency services forecasting strong winds and searing temperatures.

Fire crews, water-dropping planes, helicopters and vehicles from France, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland are due to arrive today and throughout the weekend.

There are 56 active fronts across Greece, from the Peloponnese to the island of Evia near the capital, where hundreds of people had to leave by boat as flames burned through forestland to the shore.

In neighbouring Turkey, hundreds of volunteers have joined efforts to contain fires that swept through the country’s southern and southwestern coasts. At least eight people have been killed in the fires, described as the country’s worst in living memory.

6 August 2021

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