Evacuations near Athens as Greece becomes focus of Europe’s wildfire crisis

High winds spread flames through Attica while blazes stabilise in France and Spain but risk of flare-ups remains high

Europe’s wildfire crisis fractured along starkly different fronts on Sunday: gale-force winds drove flames deeper into the Athens region and forced fresh evacuations, France guarded a still-burning scar four times the size of Paris against renewed spread, and Spain’s major fires finally stopped advancing.

The centre of immediate danger was Greece. Gale-force winds drove flames deeper into western Attica, the administrative region that includes the capital, threatening villages and an industrial district outside the city of Megara as violent gusts prevented firefighting aircraft from collecting water from the sea.