Planes and boats interfere in the new Evia fire in Greece…

Firefighting teams, supported by water-bomber aircraft, battled a new fire on Monday in the south of the Greek island of Evia, which is once again engulfed in flames.

The forest fire is being directed towards the coastal resort of Mermari, 200 kilometers north-east of Athens, where authorities are preparing to evacuate residents by boat, the Greek news agency ANA reported.

A total of 46 firefighters are battling fires near Via in the south of the island of Evia, supported by 20 trucks, three water-launchers and two helicopters.

The new fire broke out on Monday morning, two weeks after a huge fire engulfed the north of the island.

The fires have, in total, wiped out more than 100,000 hectares of forest in Greece since the end of July, in horrific scenes.

Hundreds of homes and small institutions were set ablaze on the island of Evian, 200 kilometers north-east of Athens, on the part of Peloponnese and in the suburbs of greater Athens.

Civil protection in Greece warned on Sunday of “high risk” of fires breaking out in different parts of the country.

Firefighting teams deployed in the hundreds in Greece, with foreign reinforcements, remained on standby against the threat of a return to fires on the island of Evia, which was severely damaged by the recent fires, and in the area of Arcadia on the Peloponnese peninsula, while meteorology expected a strong wind.

Rising fires worldwide are linked to extreme weather events that scientists attribute to climate warming.