Greek firefighters have been battling the blaze on the island of Evia for a week

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The firefighters continued, Monday, for the seventh consecutive day, their fight against the flames on the island of Evia, 200 km east of Athens. One after another, the villages in the north of this Greek island are besieged by flames.

Firefighters have been fighting fires on the island of Evia, Greece for a week. Greek Deputy Minister of Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias announced Sunday “another difficult night” on the spot.

In the absence of air means at night, firefighters fought until dawn on Monday August 9 in Monokarya to prevent the fire from reaching the town of Istiaia, threatened by flames, according to the agency. Greek Press ANA.

Among the 500 firefighters deployed on the island, some 200 firefighters arrived from Ukraine and Romania, reinforced by 17 water bomber planes and helicopters, according to the Greek firefighting services.

But the air resources are experiencing “serious difficulties” because of the turbulence, thick smoke and limited visibility, Nikos Hardalias said on Sunday.

More than 56,000 hectares already gone up in smoke in Greece

If most of the fires were stabilized or in remission, Monday, in Greece, the Euboea disaster, the second largest island in the country, remained the most worrying, offering an apocalyptic panorama.

One by one, dozens of villages were evacuated of their inhabitants as flames engulfed the first houses. The villages of Kamatriades and Galatsades were to be the priorities of the firefighters on Monday. Because “if the fire passes by there, it will be in a thick forest and difficult to extinguish”, according to the firefighters quoted by the ANA.

Greece has been going through a wave of violent fires for almost two weeks, favored by drought and scorching temperatures, which have left two dead and dozens injured in hospital.

A fire in Crete has been brought under control, while the situation has stabilized in the Peloponnese, according to the authorities.

With AFP