Dozens of homes and es were reported to have burned, although authorities did not yet have an exact number. Winds strengthened again Tuesday afternoon, but no new major flare-ups were reported.
The European Union's Copernicus Emergency Management Service, which provides mapping services for natural disasters using satellite images, said that by Monday the blaze had burned 8,500 hectares (21,000 acres, 85 square kilometers).
Helicopters, planes and hundreds of firefighters and vehicles were arriving from France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Serbia and Romania. Turkey's Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said two firefighting planes and one helicopter had taken off Tuesday morning headed to Greece.
"I wish all the best to our colleagues who work with the motto ‘Forests are the world’s common heritage,’” Yumakli posted on the social media platform X.
Relations between neighbors Greece and Turkey are frequently tense over territorial disputes, but they tend to put differences aside and send each other help when faced with natural disasters such as earthquakes and forest fires.
Several other Balkan countries also struggled with wildfires. Water-dropping planes and helicopters from Cyprus, Germany and Slovenia were helping North Macedonia tackle blazes that have been burning for weeks, while Bosnian firefighters and local authorities appealed for international help to tackle fires raging in a national park in the east of the country.
The Athens blaze began Sunday afternoon near Lake Marathon, 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of the city, and coursed across Mount Pendeli, descending into the city's suburbs.
Firefighters found the burned body of a woman in an industrial building in the suburb of Vrilissia just after midnight. The woman, an employee of the , was believed to have become trapped inside the building.
More than a dozen were treated by paramedics, mostly for smoke inhalation, while five firefighters suffered light burns and breathing problems, the fire department said.
Three hospitals, including a children’s hospital, two monasteries and a children’s home were evacuated on Monday, while 30 push alerts were sent to cell phones warning in several Athens suburbs and outlying settlements to flee.
Authorities said some who refused to leave their homes later became trapped and required rescuing, endangering the lives of firefighters. The affected areas — at the closest, some 15 kilometers (nine miles) from the heart of Athens — typically have thousands of residents. However, it was unclear how many were away on vacation at the height of the summer season, and how many had obeyed the evacuation orders or stayed to fight the blaze.
Ten water-dropping planes and 10 helicopters were fighting the remaining flames Tuesday, backing up hundreds of firefighters on the ground, the fire department said.
Earlier in the week, the fire reached heights of 25 meters (80 feet). It raced through pine forests left tinder-dry by repeated heat waves this summer. June and July were the hottest months ever recorded in Greece, which also recorded its warmest winter ever. An early start of the fire season this year has strained Greece’s firefighting force.
“Firefighters have been working at full tilt for months,” said Nikos Lavranos, head of Greece’s main firefighters’ union. “They are exhausted.”
Meteorologists warned of the increased danger of wildfires because of weather conditions from Sunday until Thursday, and dozens of other wildfires also broke out in several parts of Greece on Monday.
In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee in their cars. More than 100 died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.
Last year, wildfires in Greece killed more than 20 , including 18 migrants who became trapped by flames as they trekked through a forest in northeastern Greece and were caught by a massive blaze that burned for more than two weeks.
