Greece: Bulgarian Tourists Evacuated as Wild Fires Continue amid Extreme Heatwave

The fight against the fire on the Greek peninsula of the Peloponnese continues.

 Many people, including Bulgarians, were evacuated because of the fire. Tourists reported that several villages were evacuated on Saturday as fires came closer.

The 112 system instructed the mobile phones of the people in the region in which direction to evacuate. More than 100 children who were in a nearby campsite were also evacuated, BNR reports.

A heatwave in Greece will continue through the week, with temperatures of up to 47 C.

A large fire on the popular holiday island of Rhodes that broke out on Sunday amid extreme drought and strong winds was contained by early Monday, the fire department said, although the fire danger remained high.

Hotel facilities on Rhodes have so far not been affected, but three villages in the west of the island's capital were ordered to evacuate.

The fire caused temporary power outages across large parts of the island on Sunday evening.

Firefighting aircraft and helicopters were deployed at first daylight to douse the flames, state television channel ERT reported.

The prolonged heat and continued running of air conditioners at full blast is testing the country's energy system. People were also told to avoid running their washing machines around noon, when energy consumption is particularly high.

It was unclear when the heat would subside. Some meteorologists fear the high temperatures could last up to two weeks.

Residents of metropolitan areas such as Athens, a city of more than a million, are especially suffering from the heatwave, which has been going on for almost a week.

"You can hardly breathe outside because of the heat, and inside the air is unhealthy because of the air conditioning," one woman said on state television.

Dozens of wildfires have broken out across the Greek mainland and islands this summer. The first major fire of the season erupted in mid-May outside of Athens.

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