ATHENS, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- A large wildfire was raging in eastern Greece on Evoia island, some 80 kilometers north of Athens, on Sunday, the local Fire Brigade said.
Over 250 residents of two villages in the Dirfia and Messapies municipality have been evacuated as a precautionary measure, Fanis Spanos, the Deputy Governor of the Region of Evoia, told Greek national news agency AMNA.
In addition, traffic in regional roads has been banned.
According to local authorities, fanned by strong winds blowing in the area, the blaze has spread in a pine forest over a very wide front, despite efforts by dozens of firemen to contain it.
In the wake of the July 23 wildfire tragedy which swept through coastal resorts and killed 94 people in eastern Attica according to the latest official data, Greek authorities were on alert to tackle wildfires immediately.
After no evacuation order was issued in the July wildfire and Greece mourned one of its deadliest tragedies in over a decade, the government has pledged to restructure the civil protection mechanism to make it more effective.
Greece suffers from many wildfires each summer which are linked to heat waves or arson.
