Athens, 18 July 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Most of the fires burning overnight in the greater Athens area were now under partial control, the Greek fire brigade said on Tuesday.

Early Tuesday morning, 23 fire-fighting planes and helicopters were deployed to extinguish the fires, according to a spokesman for the fire brigade.

Two fires that broke out about 10 and 80 kilometres west of Athens on Monday were still causing concern.

Emergency forces travelled to Athens from other regions of Greece to help, state radio reported.

After a relatively rainy and cool spring, these are the first large wildfires in Greece this year.

The Civil Defence Department had warned over the weekend that after several days of temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius and a prolonged dry period, the danger of forest fires would be very high.