Two people have died and hundreds of residents have been evacuated by sea after two wildfires broke out almost simultaneously on the Greek island of Salamina, near Athens, on Sunday 16 August 2026. Fire officials said the blazes ignited under high wildfire risk conditions and rapidly threatened to merge into a single front over a mountainous stretch of the island.
According to chief fire officer Vasilios Vathrakoyannis, the first fire was reported at 14:43 local time in the southern area of Peristeria and, fanned by strong winds, spread within roughly seven minutes, according to a Chinese state news agency report. A second fire erupted about 20 minutes later near Selinia and the Kaki Vigla area to the east, and by the afternoon the fronts were reported by some outlets to have split into as many as three separate blazes.
How many people have been affected so far?
More than 360 people have been evacuated from the island by boat, according to Greek media, though the same Chinese state news agency report put the number evacuated by sea at 90 as the operation continued. Five patrol boats and several private vessels have been deployed to assist with evacuations, alongside aircraft and around 50 fire engines.
Salamina, which lies just west of Athens, is home to roughly 37,000 residents, many of them elderly. Firefighters attending the first blaze discovered two bodies at the scene; Greek broadcaster ERT reported that the victims may have been an elderly married couple, though their identities have not yet been confirmed, according to the same report.
What damage and injuries have been reported?
At least four people have been taken to a local health centre with burns, though Greek national news agency AMNA reported that nine people with burns were brought to the Salamina Health Center, according to the wire report. Local reports also indicate that flames came very close to homes on the island, with some houses reportedly damaged and emergency evacuation messages issued to affected settlements, according to a Greek news outlet.
Why was the island so exposed to this fire?
Salamina Deputy Mayor Thodoris Zannis said firefighting teams were working to stop the two fires from crossing a mountain range and combining into one large blaze. The operation has been supported by water tankers and construction machinery in addition to the aerial and maritime resources already deployed.
The fire broke out during the Assumption holiday weekend of 15 August, a period when many residents of Athens typically travel to nearby islands such as Salamina from the port of Piraeus, according to a wire service report. That seasonal influx of visitors, combined with the high wildfire risk warning already in place for Sunday, is likely to have increased the number of people exposed to the flames.
How does this fit into Greece's wider wildfire season?
The Salamina deaths bring the summer's wildfire toll in Greece to eight, according to the Chinese state news agency. Greece has faced a string of destructive fires this summer, including an earlier blaze near Thessaloniki that killed one person and injured another, and a mid-air collision of two firefighting helicopters that killed two crew members during a wildfire response. Gale-force winds had already driven flames into Greece's Attica region in early August, part of a broader wave of evacuations near Athens alongside fires in France and Spain.
The pattern extends beyond Greece. Thousands were evacuated in Crete as wildfires killed three firefighters and forced further evacuations in Spain and Portugal, part of a wave that led the Spanish prime minister to declare an end to that country's wildfire emergency. Elsewhere in Europe, firefighters in Belgium have spent three days battling flames in the Hautes Fagnes nature reserve, a blaze described as the largest in the country's recent history after more than doubling in size within 24 hours, while at least one person died and dozens were injured in a wildfire that swept Croatia's coastline overnight on Friday, described by Croatia's fire chief Slavko Tucakovic as one of the worst in the country's history and prompting the evacuation of around 1,200 residents and tourists.
What happens next?
Firefighting and evacuation efforts on Salamina remained ongoing, with additional aircraft, helicopters, boats, volunteers and municipal water tankers being brought in to help contain the fires, according to the wire service. Authorities are still working to formally identify the two victims and to determine the full extent of the damage to homes and the number of people injured.
Key Facts
- Two fires broke out almost simultaneously on Salamina on 16 August 2026, killing two people.
- More than 360 people were evacuated by sea, though one wire report cited 90 evacuated as the operation continued.
- Around 200 firefighters, five patrol boats, private vessels, aircraft and roughly 50 fire engines were deployed.
- Nine people were treated for burns at the Salamina Health Center, according to Greek national news agency AMNA.
- This summer's wildfire deaths in Greece have reportedly reached eight following the Salamina fatalities.
