Firefighters battle second day of blaze on Greek island

Firefighters faced a second day of battling a forest fire on Greece's Skyros island on Sunday, as the local mayor expressed optimism about bringing the blaze under control. Mayor Kyriakos Antonopoulos told state TV ERT that he believed the fire could be fully extinguished within the day. The fire, which started on Saturday, prompted the evacuation of two small communities, but Antonopoulos confirmed that no inhabited areas were currently under threat.

Reinforcements were rushed to the island of approximately 3,000 inhabitants from neighboring regions. Greece has experienced several major wildfires since late July, fueled by unusually strong winds. Five firefighters have lost their lives, including a Danish pilot who died in a mid-air collision during a blaze near Athens earlier this month.

Last week, about 500 tourists were evacuated from beaches on the Halkidiki peninsula as a forest fire threatened two popular resorts. This year, Greece has seen 20,000 hectares of forest and agricultural land burn in major fires near Athens and on the islands of Crete and Paros. Climate experts attribute the growing risk of wildfires to human-fueled climate change, which has intensified droughts and other extreme weather events.