Dozens of firefighters assisted by water-dropping aircraft are battling a forest blaze that broke out Thursday on Mount Parnitha on the northern fringes of Athens.
Authorities said four water-bombers were flying sorties to extinguish the fire near the Parnitha casino building on the mountain’s southern face. The road leading up the mountain has been closed to the public.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known.
Until a few decades ago covered in lush forest, Mount Parnitha has been gutted by a series of successive summer wildfires that stripped vast swathes of its trees.