UK holidaymakers in Greece issued urgent warning in 'highly dangerous' scenes

Greece is bracing itself for more wildfires as the country experiences soaring temperatures, according to reports. Wildfires have already broken out in the country in recent days with the fire service dealing with blazes near Markopoulo, east of Athens, and on the island of Evia on Wednesday.

Temperatures are set to reach as high as 40C in mainland Greece today (Thursday June 20) and tomorrow with temperatures remaining in the high 20s overnight,the country’s national weather agency, the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, forecasts. Weather alert site meteoalarm.org has issued yellow and amber warnings for high temperatures across the country, which are in place throughout Thursday.

Along with the heat, the Hellenic National Meteorological Service has also issued gale warnings for parts of the country. The combination of dry, hot weather and wind has led to a “very high forest fire risk”, local news site ekathimerini.com reports.

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It says that “Attica, Corinth, a large part of Argolida and Messinia, Viotia, southern Evia, as well as many islands of the Aegean (Lesvos, Chios, Cyclades etc) and southern Crete are at risk of forest fires”, according to a map created by the flame team at the National Observatory of Athens. Thodoris Giannaros, an expert member of the team warned that the current weather “increase significantly the flammability of dead forest fuels” leading to the “perfect kindling for fire”.

Conditions are set to cool slightly over the weekend, but temperatures will still remain in the low 30s. Regarding wildfires in Greece, the UK Foreign Office has the following advice:

"Wildfires are highly dangerous and unpredictable.