ATHENS, 12 July 2021, (TON): Authorities said “Greek firefighters have brought dozens of wildfires under control despite high winds, after a coastal village had to be evacuated.

Holidaymakers and locals were among 500 people who fled Niborio village on Evia island after a large blaze ripped through a forest.

“The fire with the help of the wind moved south and as a result the Fire Brigade officer in charge asked for the preemptive evacuation of the Niborio inhabitants,” civil protection deputy minister Nikos Hardalias said in a televised emergency briefing after 51 fires were declared.

Four fires, all in areas of dried grass, were also burning simultaneously in different locations in the western Attica towns of Elefsina and Aspropyrgos on Saturday, while a forest fire in Varnavas, in the northeast of the peninsula, raged without threatening homes.

Sixty firefighters and 23 fire engines tackled the blazes, backed by six helicopters and seven planes.

By Sunday, all the fires were under control, the Fire Brigade said, while in Evia a 57-year-old man was arrested for arson.