A 64-year-old beekeeper was arrested on Wednesday accused of causing a fire that damaged homes and destroyed cars in the northern suburbs of Athens, a fire department official said.
The blaze raged on Tuesday at the base of Mount Penteli, where a fire in July 2018 went on to claim 102 lives in Greece’s worst-ever toll from a forest inferno.
However Tuesday’s fire did not cause any casualties and was now “under control”, firefighters told AFP.
The beekeeper was due to appear before a prosecutor on Wednesday, the fire department official told AFP.
He is suspected of burning foliage near his hives in the town of Stamata, where the fire started, according to the ministry of civil protection.
Four other people arrested on Tuesday as part of the investigation were quickly released by Greek police.
The ministry said that “one house was burnt down, 12 others suffered damage, notably to their roofs” in the blaze, and around 10 cars were torched.
A total of 310 firefighters were mobilised to the area 30 kilometres (19 miles) north of Athens, backed by 10 helicopters and eight firefighting planes, the fire service said, with strong winds complicating operations.
Greece is hit by forest fires every summer, but experts have warned that global warming increases both their frequency and intensity.
Another heatwave is forecast for the country starting Thursday, with temperatures expected to rise above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
