Firefighters and volunteers faced an all-night battle against wildfires burning across Attica, Boeotia, and Phocis, working to halt the advance of multiple fire fronts threatening homes and forested land.
The worst situation was at Porto Germeno, where a fire grew to significant size, destroying forest areas and causing damage to houses and properties. Crews concentrated efforts on the southern front of the Porto Germeno blaze to prevent it from reaching Psatha, and worked at two other points near Agios Nektarios to keep the fire away from Vilia. Ground forces also worked to protect homes in the settlement of Veniza.
Emergency alerts were sent via the 112 system ordering evacuations from Alepochori, Psatha, Veniza, Louba, Zachouli, Agia Paraskevi, Krio Pigadi, and Agios Nektarios in Attica.
Scale of the Damage
According to an initial assessment by METEO and the National Observatory of Athens, high-resolution satellite data from the SPOT-6/7 satellite, which passed over Boeotia and Attica on the afternoon of Saturday, August 1, 2026, showed that the two major wildfires had burned approximately 66,600 stremmata in total. Analysis of Copernicus EMS satellite data indicated that by 11:46 on Saturday, around 30,900 stremmata had burned in the Boeotia fire and approximately 35,700 stremmata in the Porto Germeno fire, which was still burning.
During the day, fire crews faced extremely difficult conditions due to gale-force winds that in many cases prevented aircraft from taking on water or making drops because of severe turbulence. The fire service described the situation in Boeotia as stable.
Forces Deployed
A total of 496 firefighters, 22 on-foot unit teams, volunteers, and 134 vehicles were deployed across Attica and Boeotia, including 23 French firefighters with 4 vehicles and 23 Romanian firefighters with 4 vehicles operating under a European pre-positioning arrangement. Water tankers and heavy machinery were also provided by the Attica and Central Greece regional authorities.
In Phocis, 64 firefighters with 15 vehicles worked to contain a separate fire at Skaloma and prevent it from reaching the Pigi area. Evacuations were ordered for Klima, Pigi, Koukoura, Nea Koukoura, Magoula, Peukaki, and Eupalio.
A total of 59 rural and forest fires broke out in the preceding 24 hours. Attica, Boeotia, and Euboea were placed on Red Code alert for Sunday, August 2, with a very high fire risk forecast, category 4. All fire service personnel across the country remained on general standby.
