A sudden wildfire that erupted overnight in the Nea Makri municipality, in coastal east Attica prefecture, was reportedly contained by daylight, according to authorities, although the blaze had first scorched several dozen hectares of pine forest and brush land.
The incident generated an immediate and stepped up presence of firefighters, given that its location less than two kilometers from where a devastating wildfire at the Mati settlement in July 2013 claimed the lives of more than 100 people. The sluggish response by emergency services at the time and a failure to order an evacuation of the densely built but pine-covered settlement at the time result in the most deadly wildfire in the country.
According to authorities, two blazes were reported at roughly 2.17 a.m. (00.17 GMT), the seventh such incident over the past nine days, a development that has caused suspicions of arson.
