Hundreds flee as wildfires rage across Greek holiday island

Smoke rises as firefighting teams respond the wildfire that broke out in Chios, Greece on June 22, 2025. Photo / Getty Images

Wildfires have broken out on the Greek holiday island of Chios, with the authorities declaring a state of emergency and ordering residents to evacuate.

Nearly 200 firefighters are trying to control the blazes, which are being whipped up by strong winds, and another 170 are being sent as reinforcements.

A dozen helicopters and four planes capable of dumping water have been deployed to the area.

Locals and tourists on the island in the northern Aegean have received mobile phone alerts ordering them to evacuate. The evacuation orders affect 16 villages and suburbs on the outskirts of Chios town, the main settlement.

Ioannis Kefalogiannis, the civil protection minister, said the decision to impose a state of emergency was made so that the authorities “can immediately take the necessary measures”.

Kefalogiannis said the powerful winds, estimated at force six on the Beaufort scale, were making the situation “very difficult”.

“If the wind dies down a bit, we might be able to get this fire under control. But the wind really hasn’t dropped,” he said.

A Greek Government spokesman said: “The situation remains critical as firefighting forces are still dealing with many active fronts, several of which are near hamlets.”

Greek authorities suspect that arson may be to blame, and have launched an investigation. They said it was suspicious that fires broke out on three different fronts at about the same time.

Kefalogiannis said there would be “heavy criminal sanctions” for anyone found to have lit fires deliberately.

Firefighting teams are trying to prevent the blazes from spreading to rural areas known for producing mastiha, a natural resin harvested from mastic trees.

On Sunday, about a dozen areas and hundreds of asylum seekers at a reception centre were forced to evacuate as the fires spread.

The fires on Chios are the most serious in Greece so far this summer, Greek media reported. Smoke has reached the island of Mykonos, far to the south, which is hugely popular with cruise ship passengers and tourists.

Although wildfires are common in Greece during the summer, experts say global warming is producing bigger and more frequent conflagrations. In 2023, devastating forest fires broke out on the island of Rhodes, forcing 19,000 people to flee the island.

Greece has hired a record 18,000 firefighters this year amid concerns that it faces a challenging fire season.

A heatwave is predicted in the next few days, with temperatures of more than 40C (104F) expected, including in the capital, Athens.