A fire occurred shortly before 4pm in a pine forest in Kalamos, Attica, towards the Holy Apostles area. As it has been known by the Fire Brigade, the fire, which is quite large, spread quickly, while there are scattered houses in the area.

The exact number of damaged houses has not been known, but the information speaks for 15-20, of which five have more serious damage.

The wind constantly changed the direction of the fire, resulting in just before 6 o’clock in the afternoon to reach the boundaries of the settlement and to enter the yards of the houses! At the same time, a large front of the fire is heading for the area of ​​Kapandriti.

The efforts of the Fire Brigade now focus on trying to cut off this front. However, this is not easy as the fire progresses fast, cannot be controlled and everything indicates that this will be a difficult night.

There are 40 firefighters with 20 vehicles, a hiking section with 12 people, and three airplanes (two helicopters and one Canadair airplane) as well as volunteers participating in the extinguishing effort.

Residents of the area who left their homes said that the airplanes and helicopters were not enough and that there is an urgent need for them to be reinforced. Others, who spoke at protothema.gr, complained that the fire was the result of arson, while testimonies reported that small explosions were heard in the area.

Many locals have not abandoned their homes and fought with the flames, while others have found shelter in their cars.

Due to power cuts, some fire hydrants did not work. Also, according to information, confirmed by the Fire Brigade, during the operations, the Regional Firefighter of Attica General Director, General Constantine Yovas, was injured.

General Jovas, who co-ordinated the operations, was transferred to the 401 Military Hospital. The first information indicates that due to the highly stressful conditions he felt unwell and needed to be transferred to the hospital where he was proactively screened for medical examinations.

According to some information, the coordination was bad and some houses have already been burned while evacuation operations had to be undertaken.

As reported by the Fire Brigade for safety reasons, two camps located near the fire area have been evacuated. These are the “Kinderland” and “Anagennisi” camps. The children were safely transported to Kalamos Beach Hotel.

Earlier, three more fires occurred in Attica, which were directly addressed by the firefighting forces. These were in the area of Stroggili in Kalyvia Thorikou, Markopoulo and Thymiri of Lavreotiki.