Athens: Greece has been plagued by wildfires for more than two weeks. On Saturday, authorities said the fires were mostly under control, but firefighters were still present in some of the most dangerous hotspots.

On Saturday, three fires broke out in the Peloponnese peninsula, prompting the protective evacuation of four communities close to Pyrgos.

According to the fire department, there are more than 100 firefighters working in the area, supported by seven aircraft and two helicopters. The organisation had earlier on Saturday informed AFP that there was "no active front" in the three largest wildfires that had recently compelled thousands of people to flee to central Greece, Corfu, and Rhodes.

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But as a precaution, it added, more than 460 firefighters were still stationed in these three locations. The statement read, "Until the major incidents are investigated, there is no de-escalation of forces."

The two-week inferno, which was fueled by hot temperatures, dry weather, and strong winds, had caused chaos at the height of the busy summer travel season.
On the island of Rhodes, 20,000 tourists and locals ran away from hotels and villages. Corfu and other locations evacuated hundreds more people.

According to estimates from the Athens Observatory, the fires claimed the lives of at least five people and destroyed close to 50,000 hectares of forest and vegetation.
Three more bodies were found in fires in Evia and close to the industrial area of the port city of Volos in central Greece, while two more pilots perished on Tuesday when their water-bombing plane crashed while battling a blaze in Evia.

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The fires have also increased political pressure on the recently re-elected conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

After it was revealed that the citizen's protection minister had taken a vacation while the nation battled the wildfires, he resigned from his position on Friday.

Greece suffered through what some experts claim to be the longest July heatwave in decades for more than 10 days this month. The temperature has started to drop after reaching 46 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit) this week.

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On Saturday, according to the national weather service EMY, the temperature won't rise above 37°C, but wind gusts could reach 60 km/h.This week, fires have also broken out in Croatia, Italy, and Portugal; in Algeria, blazes claimed the lives of 34 people as the country's landscapes dried out to the point of tinder.