NU Online News Service, Aug. 25, 2:53 p.m. EDT
The Athens wildfire situation, which has 150 or more houses damaged, is improving, but there is still a high risk of further flare ups, Risk Management Solutions said.
A message to NU Online from the catastrophe modeling firm's team in the area indicated that there has not been an official report by Greek officials with respect to property damage.
But the team put the overall impact into perspective by noting the wildfires "have burnt around 37,000 acres, [caused] no deaths and damaged 150 houses. The 2007 wildfires that occurred in southern Greece burnt over 670,000 acres, killed around 70 people and destroyed 1,000 houses, around 1,000 other properties and damaged many hundreds more.
"So compared to that event the damage has been very light," the team reported.
While most of the wildfires have been contained, and are expected to be extinguished today thanks to a lull in strong winds, officials said there is still an active wildfire near Mount Kitheronas that has yet to be controlled, according to RMS.
The fires began late on Aug. 21 in a rural area near Marathon, approximately 25 miles northeast of Athens. RMS said the fires burned along a 25 mile front. The Greek government issued a state of emergency on Aug. 22 for the Athens area.
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