Greek mayor and two others detained on arson charges over wildfire near Athens

Greek mayor and two others detained on arson charges over wildfire near Athens

Greek authorities placed a town mayor and two other individuals in pre-trial detention Friday on arson charges connected to a massive wildfire that devastated areas northwest of Athens during Europe's summer heatwave crisis.

Investigators determined that the blaze ignited on July 31 when sparks from power cables at a wind farm near Agios Vasileios triggered flames that rapidly consumed more than 10,000 hectares of land, according to satellite estimates from the EU Space Support Office. The seaside village sits at the base of a mountain 85 kilometres northwest of Athens.

Giannis Apostolou, mayor of Stylida—a small town approximately 140 kilometres northwest of the capital—owns an electrical installation company connected to the wind farm where the fire originated. Authorities charged him alongside one of his contractors and the wind farm owner with arson and damaging public utilities. All three could face sentences exceeding 10 years if convicted.

Previous incident at same location

The charges carry additional weight given that fire had already erupted on the identical power line on June 27, highlighting what prosecutors view as a pattern of negligence. The wind farm owner stands accused of failing to clear vegetation around the installation, despite local residents having attempted to block the facility through legal challenges when it was constructed over a decade ago.

Greek authorities suspended operations at the wind farm Friday, which is located on the border between the Boeotia and Attica regions.

Rapid spread threatens coastal communities

Propelled by gale-force winds reaching speeds of 130 kilometres per hour, the fire raced from the overhead medium-voltage power line toward the southern slopes of Mount Kithairon. The flames advanced to within 40 kilometres of Athens and surrounded the coastal resort of Porto Germeno on the Gulf of Corinth, where over 300 firefighters battled the blaze at its peak.

Approximately 300 people required evacuation by sea from Porto Germeno after the extreme winds severed road access to the resort town. Across the affected area, more than 120 buildings and homes sustained damage. The fire consumed forest land, scrubland, and olive groves before firefighters brought it under control.

Part of broader European crisis

The Porto Germeno fire formed part of a wider conflagration across Southern Europe during the 2026 summer heatwaves, which also engulfed parts of France and Spain. In Greece alone, dozens of blazes erupted since late July, claiming five lives including three firefighters killed in separate suppression operations on July 29.

Two days later, on August 2, a Greek and a Danish crew member perished when their firefighting helicopter collided with another aircraft. Just one day before the Porto Germeno fire began, approximately 8,000 residents and tourists were evacuated from the Rethymno region in Crete as flames threatened that island.

The broader Athens region remained under high fire risk following the Porto Germeno incident, with authorities warning of forecast temperature increases that could spark additional outbreaks.

Greece's vulnerability to catastrophic wildfires was devastatingly demonstrated in 2018 when the Mati wildfire near Athens killed 104 people in what remains Europe's deadliest blaze this century. Scientists have repeatedly warned that human-caused climate change is creating longer-lasting, more frequent, and more intense periods of extreme heat and drought, generating ideal conditions for wildfires to ignite and spread rapidly.