Greek Firefighters Still Fighting Wildfires In Nature Reserve On Euboea Island - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th August, 2019) Greek firefighters continue to battle a major forest fire in a nature reserve on the island of Euboea, Greece's Hellenic Fire Service said.

The wildfire on Euboea began on Tuesday and still continues to spread, with smoke reaching Athens 43 miles away southward. Three villages were evacuated.

Fire also engulfed the pine forest included in the Natura 200 reserve, the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world. According to the Open tv channel, the wildfire broke out as a result of arson, and the fire quickly spread due to a storm wind.

According to Greece's national fire service, over the past 24 hours a total of 38 forest fires took place.

On Thursday, local media reported that Greek authorities had detained a man suspected of igniting the forest fires on the country's second-largest island.