Greece fires: Photos show how close Athens wildfires came to burning whole towns

CNN
 — 

Greece’s worst wildfire of the year has ripped through the Attica region toward the capital Athens at lightning speed, tracking a devastating course that killed a woman, torched thousands of hectares of land and forced people to flee their homes.

The fire, which started Sunday near the town of Varnavas around 22 miles northeast of Athens, has now eased, although authorities have warned that the fire danger threat level remains high as the country endures scorching temperatures.

As the region starts to pick up the pieces in the aftermath, satellite images reveal the immense scale of damage the fire caused and show just how terrifyingly close the flames came to consuming whole towns and villages.

Some places were completely surrounded by flames, which reached up to 80 feet high, Reuters reported, citing local fire authorities.

Images of Varnavas show the town ringed by black, scorched earth. The undulating landscape that surrounds it was swiftly consumed by flames as the fire spread astonishingly quickly due to a mix of high temperatures, strong winds and land left parched by a very hot, dry summer.

Vothonas, a village close to Varnavas, is similarly encircled by black, ashy landscape, almost entirely torched by the wildfire.

The fire raced right to the outskirts of Athens, a city of 3 million people, coming within miles of the busy, tourist-filled center.

Images of Vrilissia, a suburb in the north of the city, show huge burn scars across parts of the town. It was here that the body of a woman was found dead inside a scorched building.

Greece experiences wildfires every year, but they are becoming more intense and frequent due to human-caused climate change, which fuels heat and drought, both helping set the stage for fierce, destructive fires.

This summer, Greece experienced its hottest June and July on record. Brutal, rolling heat waves have dried out the land, creating ideal conditions for fires to rip through.