Wildfires Hit a Greek Island Near Athens: What Happened

Two people died and several others were hurt on Sunday, August 16, 2026, when wildfires spread quickly across the Greek island of Salamina, just west of Athens. Hundreds of people had to leave their homes, some by boat and some by road, as nearly 200 firefighters worked to stop two fires that started within minutes of each other and risked joining into one giant blaze.

The first fire was reported at 14:40 local time (12:40 GMT) and spread fast because of strong winds, according to Greek fire officials cited by BBC News. The Greek fire department confirmed that the two fires started at the same time. Salamina had been flagged that day as being at high risk for wildfires, meaning weather conditions were right for fires to start and spread quickly.

About 200 firefighters were sent to put out the two fires and stop them from joining together, according to Greek media citing fire officials. They brought roughly 50 fire engines and several aircraft that dropped water from above. Salamina Deputy Mayor Thodoris Zannis said firefighters were fighting to keep the fires from crossing a mountain on the island and merging into one huge wildfire, which would make the job much harder.

The evacuation by sea happened fast. About 90 people had been taken off the island by boat as of the latest reporting, according to a coastguard spokesman speaking to Greek broadcaster ERT. Five patrol boats were sent to the area, and private boat owners also offered to help. Hundreds of people were evacuated in total as the fires burned across parts of the island (Straits Times).

Salamina, also called Salamis in Greek, is in the Saronic Gulf just west of Athens. About 37,000 people live there, many of them older adults. That matters because elderly residents may move more slowly, making evacuations harder. The island is close enough to Athens that Greece's central fire and emergency services can reach it. But because it is an island, there are only so many roads in, so getting extra firefighters and equipment there by land is limited. That is why evacuating people by boat becomes so important.

The broader context here is that Greece is especially prone to wildfires in the summer, when dry plants, steady winds, and high heat combine across much of the country. Salamina's high-risk label that day meant fires were considered likely and potentially hard to control. The fact that two fires started on the same island within minutes of each other raises the question of whether both were caused naturally by wind and dry conditions, or whether a person may have been involved in at least one. Officials have not yet said what caused the fires. What is clear is the challenge: two active fires on an island with few roads, many older residents, and winds pushing the flames across mountains.

The Hellenic Fire Service has dealt with smaller fires on Salamina before. Earlier incidents on the official fire service website include a house fire in Selinia and a boat fire at a repair business in Ampelakia. Both were single fires limited to one building. Sunday's wildfires were a completely different situation: multiple fires burning across open land, with people killed, a mass evacuation by sea, and aircraft called in to help.

The danger that Deputy Mayor Zannis described, the two fires meeting over the mountains to become one, is what fire commanders most needed to stop. Imagine two small campfires burning toward each other. If they join, the combined fire is hotter, pulls in more air, and becomes much harder to put out. That is essentially what happens when two wildfires merge. Sending aircraft to drop water along the ridgelines between the two fires suggests crews were trying to create a barrier to keep them apart until firefighters on the ground could tackle each one separately.

With two confirmed dead, several injured, and hundreds displaced, the Salamina fires add to a pattern of worsening wildfire damage across Greece in recent years. How well the boat evacuation worked, how many people were hurt or killed, and whether the two fires were kept apart will be the ways this response is judged in the days ahead.