Greece · major fire event · burning since 31 July

The Boeotia fire: from Xironomi down to the Gulf of Corinth

What happened

A fire that started inland in Boeotia on the morning of Friday 31 July ran south through pine forest, over Mount Kithairon and down to the sea on the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth. People were taken off the beach at Agios Vasileios by boat because the road out had gone, and a second group was lifted off the shore at Porto Germeno the next morning. Homes were lost at Porto Germeno and along that coast, and the fire was still running on separate fronts at Veniza and Psatha on 2 August.

What it means if you're travelling

This is a mainland fire about seventy to eighty kilometres north-west of Athens, not an island one. Athens and its airport were running normally throughout, and the coast in question is a small stretch of holiday villages that very few visitors pass through by accident. If you are booked at Porto Germeno, Psatha, Alepochori, Agios Vasileios or the Domvraina villages, do not travel there and speak to your host first. If you are driving between Athens and the Peloponnese, check your route on the morning rather than the night before.

In depth: the Boeotia fire and the coast north-west of Athens

Where exactly is this fire, and how far is Athens?

Boeotia is the province north-west of Athens, inland farming country behind Thebes. The fire began on the morning of Friday 31 July near Xironomi, in the agricultural land around Domvraina, and strong northerly wind pushed it south towards Kalamaki and Agios Vasileios. From there it climbed Mount Kithairon and came down the far side into thick pine forest on the north shore of the Gulf of Corinth, crossing into western Attica. The places that took the damage are small coastal villages that Greeks use for weekends rather than package destinations: Agios Vasileios, roughly eighty kilometres north-west of Athens, and Porto Germeno, about seventy. Alepochori, Psatha, Livadostra and Veniza are on the same short stretch of shore. It matters that this is the mainland. Greece's fires the week before were on the islands, around Rethymno on Crete and on Paros, and are a separate and now improving story. The two have been reported together often enough that people arriving in Heraklion have worried about a fire they are two hundred sea miles from.

Why were people taken off the beach by boat?

This coast has one road along it and forest running right down to the water. When the front reached the shore on 31 July, the way out of Agios Vasileios was gone and several hundred residents and holidaymakers were left on the beach in heavy smoke. A fire service vessel, coast guard patrol boats and local private boats worked the bay in relays through the afternoon, held up by a rough sea and by how few people each boat could take. A group of mostly elderly evacuees stayed aboard a coast guard vessel for a time because there was nowhere safe to land them. Early on 1 August the coast guard lifted a further small group off the beach at Porto Germeno and landed them at Alepochori. It is worth understanding why that happened, because the same geography repeats all round the Greek coast. If the beach or cove you are staying at has a single road in, through forest, know where that road goes before there is any reason to use it.

Is Athens affected, and what about the drive to Corinth?

Athens itself was not affected. No disruption to the airport, the metro, the Acropolis or the city centre has been reported at any point in this event, and the fire ground is a range of hills away to the west. The western edge of the city is a different question. A separate fire at Aspropyrgos on 31 July closed the Aigaleo peripheral road in the direction of Attiki Odos, with police diverting traffic onto Athinon Avenue, and 112 messages went to the Afaia Chaidariou and Ano Dasos Chaidariou neighbourhoods. On 2 August, alerts went out for Kandili and Agia Skepi, near Megara, directing people towards Nea Peramos. Megara sits on the Athens to Corinth corridor, so that is the section to check on the day you drive. The motorway between Athens and Corinth has not been reported closed in this event. One warning: reports of that motorway and the Proastiakos line halting near Agioi Theodoroi are dated 1 June and are still surfacing high in search results. They are not from this week.

Which parts of Greece are running normally?

Most of it. The islands that carry the bulk of summer bookings, Rhodes, Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos and the rest, have had nothing to do with this. Crete and Paros are past the worst of their own fires. The evacuation alert on Andros was lifted on 30 July. A new fire started on Kefalonia overnight into 2 August, which is worth knowing if you are heading there, but no other Ionian island was involved. On the mainland, Thessaloniki, Meteora, Pelion and the whole north are unaffected. In the northern Peloponnese, Patras, Nafplio and the coast road were working, with hill villages above Aigio and farmland at Fichti beside Mycenae the exceptions. Fokida, on the north side of the Gulf further west, had its own fire from Skaloma on 1 August that put seven settlements under evacuation orders near Eupalio. A country the size of Greece running two or three serious fires is a bad week in a particular set of valleys, not a national shutdown.

What will this coast be like afterwards?

Worse for longer than the news cycle suggests. First estimates from the local authority on 1 August ran to well over a hundred homes damaged or destroyed around Porto Germeno, so rentals on that shore may simply not exist, and those that stand may be without power or water for a while. Ask your host for a photograph, not a reassurance. Access will stay controlled after the flames are out: Greek authorities routinely ban forest entry on burnt ground, and roads stay shut for tree clearance and for repairs to melted cable and damaged verges. Reignition on already-burnt ground is the standard pattern here, particularly in wind. The least obvious risk arrives later. Kithairon is steep and its pine cover is what held the soil; with that gone, the first heavy autumn rain will move mud and rock onto the roads below, and that hazard lasts into next year rather than next week. Police have also reported arson arrests across several regions this week, which is a reminder that fire danger ratings describe conditions, not intent.

The live picture

How this event has developed

What travellers are asking

Is it safe to travel to Athens?

Yes. Athens has not been evacuated, smoked out or closed at any point in this event, and no disruption to the airport, the metro or the archaeological sites has been reported. The fire is over the hills to the north-west, seventy kilometres and more from the centre. The one thing to plan around is driving out of the city westwards: the Aigaleo peripheral road was closed towards Attiki Odos on 31 July because of a separate fire at Aspropyrgos, and there were evacuation alerts near Megara on 2 August. Check your route the morning you leave.

Are the Greek islands affected?

Overwhelmingly no. Rhodes, Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Naxos, Kos and the great majority of island destinations have had no part in this. Crete and Paros had their own fires the week before and are improving; the Andros alert was lifted on 30 July. A new fire started on Kefalonia overnight into 2 August, so check locally if that is where you are going. Ferries and island airports have not been reported disrupted by the Boeotia fire, which is on the mainland and inland of the Gulf of Corinth.

Is Delphi open?

No closure of Delphi has been announced in any source reviewed. Delphi is in Fokida, on the north side of the Gulf of Corinth, well west of the Boeotia fire. The Fokida fire that began at Skaloma on 1 August was in the hills nearer Eupalio, some distance from the site and the town. Two things are worth doing anyway: check the Ministry of Culture page on the morning, and remember that Greek archaeological sites close in extreme heat far more often than they close for fire. That is the more likely reason to find the gate shut in August.

Can I still drive from Athens to Corinth and the Peloponnese?

The motorway between Athens and Corinth has not been reported closed in this event. Be careful with what you find in search results, though: reports of that motorway and the Proastiakos suburban rail halting near Agioi Theodoroi are dated 1 June, not August, and they keep surfacing as though they were current. What is current is that the corridor passes Megara, where 112 alerts were issued on 2 August. Check before you set off, and treat an alert on your phone as overriding your satnav.

My accommodation is at Porto Germeno or Psatha. What should I do?

Contact the owner before you travel, and ask specifically whether the building is standing and whether it has power, water and a road in. Well over a hundred homes on this coast were reported damaged or destroyed on 1 August. Do not set off intending to assess it yourself; you are likely to be turned back at a roadblock rather than talked through. If you cannot reach the owner, assume the booking is not usable and start looking for an alternative. Athens is a straightforward substitute and is running normally.

Official sources for this event