At least two people were hospitalized with breathing problems and minor burns, while local officials said several houses had been burned in the fire around Mount Penteli, 25 kilometers (16 miles) northeast of the Greek capital.
"The conditions are very challenging. The priority was to safeguard human life, critical infrastructure and private property," Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios said.
He said winds of up to 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph) were making air support difficult for fire crews.
Greece has avoided the heat wave that is currently afflicting countries in Western Europe, but fire officials say that hot and dry conditions that have lasted for weeks, as well as longer-term temperature rises, have increased the overall risk of forest fires.
Five water-dropping aircraft and four helicopters were operating Wednesday at the fire north of Athens, officials said, adding that more than 600 people have evacuated from their homes so far.
More than 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of land was damaged by wildfires in Greece last year, the worst damage recorded since 2007.
The official records show that the MAX temperature in Athens, 20 July 2022, has been a "whopping", 30°C. Gosh, Sweden topped it with 35.3°C on the same day in Målilla, but that's a couple thousand km further to the north. Berlin and Hamburg in Germany reported 39°C.
So, Athen's mere 30°C are in fact BELOW the normal MAX this time of the year. Only at the border to Bulgaria, two stations reported 35°C. No other station reported higher temperatures.
There is absolutely nothing, NOTHING record breaking about the warmth in Greece.
Nothing !
So, why do these fires start in the first place ? (A bit too "common" events in Greece, sad to say) Deliberately ? Battery driven cars going boink ? (Almost) anything goes, it seems.