Wildfire rages near Athens, Italian firefighter planes battle 40 wildfires in Sicily

Trees lit up like torches as a wildfire burned on a hill near the area of Drosopigi close to Athens on Thursday as Greece tackled wildfires nationwide for the third day in a row.

Dozens of towns and villages have been evacuated since Tuesday as a protracted heatwave and strengthening winds fuelled more than 150 wildfires in recent days. The armed forces announced the doubling of fire patrols this month and offered vehicles to help with evacuations.

Plus, firefighting planes were continuing to battle blazes that have swept across parts of the southern Italian island of Sicily on Thursday.

Eight planes were employed on Wednesday and Thursday to tame 40 fires in the provinces of Palermo and Messina.

According to the local fire brigade, some farm barns were burnt down and some houses were evacuated in the town of Scillato, near Palermo, where fires were fanned by strong winds and high temperatures that in the Mediterranean reached up to 42 degrees celsius.

Wildfires are common during Italy's dry and hot summers.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca
Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc
Like Global News on Facebook HERE: http://bit.ly/255GMJQ
Follow Global News on Twitter HERE: http://bit.ly/1Toz8mt
Follow Global News on Instagram HERE: https://bit.ly/2QZaZIB
#Wildfires #Greece #Italy #GlobalNews