Israel on Friday dispatched a team of firefighters to Athens as thousands of people fled wildfires burning out of control in Greece, including a major blaze just north of the Greek capital that left one person dead.
The Israeli team, consisting of 16 firefighters, is also shipping “a large amount of fire retardant material,” the fire service said in a statement.
“Israel is coming to assist Greece out of friendship and mutual aid,” said Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. “The entire region is dealing with the challenges of climate change and the fires threaten lives and property.”
Turkey’s wildfires, described as the worst in decades, have swept through swaths of the southern coast for the past 10 days, killing eight people.
In Greece, firefighters were battling 56 active wildfires, Civil Protection chief Nikos Hardalias said. Multiple evacuation orders were issued for inhabited areas of the mainland and the nearby island of Evia, while the fire near Athens burned forests and houses in its path heading toward Lake Marathon, the capital’s main water reservoir.
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