A father and his 12-year-old son are dead after a forest fire tore through a woodland area northeast of Thessaloniki thi...

A father and his 12-year-old son are dead after a forest fire tore through a woodland area northeast of Thessaloniki this week. The father's body was found Tuesday outside their home. Firefighters identified the boy's remains inside the destroyed property on Wednesday. The mother survived but is currently hospitalized with burns. The same day, a separate wildfire broke out in the central Greek region of Fthiotida, forcing authorities to order evacuations in two villages. More than 135 firefighters, 19 water-dropping planes, and six helicopters were deployed to contain it, alongside volunteers and specialized forest fire units. At least three additional fires ignited across the country on Wednesday, in Halkidiki in the north, on the island of Salamina near Athens, and in southern Greece. All three were contained relatively quickly, according to the fire department. Greece has faced repeated wildfire disasters in recent years. A 2018 blaze east of Athens killed more than 100 people. A 2023 fire in a northeastern nature reserve became the largest wildfire ever recorded in EU history. This summer, the country has so far avoided the heatwaves that scorched much of western Europe in recent weeks. In response to the growing threat, Greece is deploying a dedicated array of four satellites launched into low Earth orbit in May 2026 to provide early wildfire detection and real-time monitoring across the country. #Greece #Wildfires #Thessaloniki