Two wildfires, fanned by strong winds, raged uncontrolled through coastal towns near Athens on Monday forcing residents to flee their homes and prompting the evacuation of hundreds of children from a summer camp.

A third fire broke out in the afternoon and was burning forest about 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Athens, in the area of Dervenochoria.

Authorities said they were battling 81 blazes in total across the country on Monday, with the biggest fronts near Athens, and were bracing for more fires on Tuesday due to soaring temperatures and strong winds.

“Tuesday will also be a very difficult day. There is a very high risk for fires,” Artopoios said adding that strong winds will persist.

Wildfires are common in Greece in summer, but a dry winter has created tinderbox conditions.

Greece’s recently re-elected Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on trip for a leaders’ summit in Brussels, said that he was being constantly briefed over the fires, which he attributed also to climate change. He urged citizens to follow civil protection rules.

“Today was the first really tough day of this summer. It is certain that more will follow. We’ve had, we have and will have fires, which is also one of the results of the climate crisis that we experience with increased intensity,” he said.

The Greek meteorological service has warned of a high risk of fire this week, just as the country is recovering from the first major heatwave of the summer.

A second heatwave is forecast to affect the Mediterranean nation later this week.

Greece still has memories of a wildfire disaster in 2018, when a blaze killed 101 people in the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens.