Forest fire in northern Greece forces evacuations of villages

ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities on Saturday evacuated eight villages near the northeastern border with Turkey, where a large summer wildfire was burning out of control, whipped by high winds.

The fire service said that more than 130 firefighters, helped by 14 water-dropping planes and three helicopters, were struggling to contain the blaze and that reinforcements were being sent from other parts of the country.

The forest fire broke out Saturday near the village of Melia, east of the town of Alexandroupolis.

There were no reports of injuries to firefighters or residents, but authorities said some houses suffered damages in two of the evacuated villages.

Earlier, a section of a major highway in the area was closed down because of heavy smoke drifting across it.

European Union officials have blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in Europe, noting that 2022 was the second-worst year for wildfire damage on record after 2017.

Residents of Alexandroupolis in northeastern Greece were advised to keep their windows closed because smoke blown over the town from the forest fire near Melia.

Another smaller wildfire was burning outside Thessaloniki, in the north, the second-largest city in Greece. Earlier, firefighters brought under control a blaze on the western island of Cephalonia.

The fire service has issued a high wildfire alert for the weekend.

Deadly wildfires caused havoc in central Greece last month, forcing the evacuation of some 20,000 tourists on the resort island of Rhodes.