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LAST UPDATE 22:00
The battle against the blaze that started Wednesday afternoon from Keratea and spread rapidly due to strong winds continues, improving the outlook in recent hours as the intensity of the winds has decreased.
“The picture of the fire in Keratea is better. It seems to be in recession. The air went out as soon as night fell, while the firefighters will be on alert all night,” the spokesman told the Athens-Macedonia News Agency. Fire Department Press, Vassilis Vathrakogiannis.
The fire brigade, headed by the head of the PS, Lieutenant General Stefanos Kolokouris, has been fighting a very difficult battle against the flames since the afternoon the fire broke out, as well as the strong winds blowing in the area.
At this time, 117 firefighters operate on the site with 35 vehicles, 7 groups of pedestrians, while volunteers and water carriers are helping local authorities.
It is also observed that, according to the police, traffic has been restored in almost all parts of Athens: Souniou and Karamanli avenues, while it has stopped in parts of Anavyssos avenues (from the height of Aristodimou and Aigialeias streets), Kalivia (from Olympou Street) and Lavriou (from Vryoulon).
Houses in Anavyssos were destroyed by the fire, while the authorities proceeded -through a relevant message of 112- to evacuate Anavyssos and the settlements of Feriza, Olympus, Banco Agrícola (Oikismos ATE) and Agiasmothi. They also evacuated the Argo boarding school where 27 children were.
In one of the two messages of 112, residents were also called to be preemptively evicted from the settlements of Agios Panteleimonas and Aris Saronidas and to go to the beach of Palea Fokea.
In the stair zone to investigate the causes
The Fire Service also reported that by order of the Chief of the Fire Department, Lieutenant General Stefanos Kolokouris, a unit of the Fire Crimes Directorate has traveled to the area of the Saronic Municipality to investigate the causes of the fire that broke out today.
Domestic disasters
Earlier, speaking with OPEN, Saronic Gulf Mayor Petros Filippou said that “the fire has already burned some houses and continues its destructive work. The front is very large. The fire is extinguished in other places and the fire is rekindled. We are evicting people from their homes. “I have no exact idea why there is so much smoke. The wind is so strong that we cannot weigh it. “In addition, the mayor asked people to go to Anavyssos.
Later, the mayor of Saronikos, Petros Filippou, speaking to SKAI, called for an immediate evacuation of the Olympus settlement in Kalivia.
“To be evacuated immediately! Immediately! We say everything else later,” emphasized Mr Filippou, explaining that residents are informed through loudspeakers to leave their homes, as the fire is advancing at a very high speed. The only good thing, added the mayor, is that there is no forest in the area, but the area is grassland.
Arson testimonials
According to eyewitnesses, at ERT they saw “an orange car” pouring flammable liquid across the fields, with the result that when the fire got there, the place immediately lit up, setting their house on fire.
Restored traffic
According to ELAS, vehicle traffic was restored in parts of Athens – Souniou and Karamanli avenues, which had been stopped due to the fire.
In particular, the traffic on the Athens-Sounio avenue is now normal from the height of the Kalivia avenue in the flow of traffic towards Sounio and from the height of the settlement of Palea Fokea to the flow of the traffic towards Athens, as well as from the height from Agia Fotini street, also towards Athens. .
At the same time, the road on Karamanli Avenue, from the height of the Grand Resort, was opened to the flow of traffic from Athens to Sounio.
