The fire near Athens is burning an area almost twice the size of Manhattan

A European Union satellite mapping agency says 104 square kilometers (40 square miles) of land were burned northeast of Athens this week in a deadly fire that destroyed dozens of homes and caused more countries to send assistance.

Emergency management service Copernicus announced the damage estimate on Wednesday, a day after the blaze was brought under control in a massive effort that ended on the outskirts of the capital.

A factory worker was killed in the blaze that swept through mountainous areas to the south, covering an area nearly twice the size of Manhattan and shrouding the Greek capital in a thick cloud of smoke.

The fire damaged 22 businesses and made at least 78 houses uninhabitable, nearly half of them completely destroyed, Greek officials said Wednesday. Inspections in the areas affected by the fires will continue in the coming days.

Nine countries, including neighboring Turkey, have sent aid to Greece to augment ground crews and water-dropping planes and helicopters operating out of Athens.

The fire follows successive heatwaves in southern Europe and low levels of rainfall this year.

According to an updated estimate by the National Observatory in Athens, 450 square kilometers (174 square miles) of forest have been burned in the Attica region, which includes Athens, in the past eight years. This represents 37% of the total forested area of ​​the region.

Photo: A damaged house is seen in Penteli, a suburb of Athens, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, following a deadly fire near the Greek capital. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

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