A burned house and vehicles are seen after a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
A burned mountain is seen after a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
A burned house and vehicles are seen after a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
A burned house and vehicles are seen after a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
TS
A burned mountain is seen after a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
TS
A burned house and vehicles are seen after a wildfire on the outskirts of the northern port city of Thessaloniki, Greece, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Authorities urged residents of two villages in central Greece to evacuate Wednesday as more than 135 firefighters and 25 aircraft battled a wildfire, a day after a forest fire in northern Greece killed a father and his 12-year-old son.
Firefighters on Wednesday identified a body found inside a home destroyed by the fire the previous day as that of the boy. His father's body was found Tuesday outside the property, which was in a woodland area northeast of the northern city of Thessaloniki. The boy’s mother is being treated for burns in a hospital.
Wednesday’s fire was burning through forest and agricultural land in the central Greek region of Fthiotida, the fire department said. Nineteen water-dropping planes, six helicopters and 135 firefighters backed up by volunteers and special forest fire units were tackling the blaze.
At least three other wildfires broke out in Greece on Wednesday — one in the northern region of Halkidiki, another on the island of Salamina, near the Greek capital, and a third in southern Greece. All three were quickly contained, the fire department said.
While Greece suffers frequent wildfires during its hot, dry summers, it has so far been spared the heatwaves that have scorched in recent weeks.
In 2018, a killed more than 100 people, while a massive fire in 2023 which tore through a remote nature reserve in northeastern Greece was the ever recorded in the European Union.
The country has increasingly turned to technology to combat the threat of fires, exacerbated by climate change. It is integrating a , launched into low orbit in May, that will monitor for wildfires.
