(LONDON) – Firefighters in Greece discovered and fought around 44 forest fires in the 24 hours before Monday evening, containing all but eight in the “early stages,” the Greek fire service said in a press release late Monday.

The wildfires, which broke out amid extreme heat, have been raging across the country since at least Saturday, officials said. Greek officials on Monday asked the European Commission for help in fighting the fires, according to a statement from the Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre.

Hundreds of firefighters were busy trying to stop rapidly spreading wildfires near Athens on Monday, forcing tens of thousands of people in the area to be evacuated, civil protection officials said. Those fires have burned some 6,600 hectares, or about 25 square miles, in the eastern Attica region, European officials said.

Government officials had warned of an increased risk of fire in several areas, including the Athens peninsula and the region north of it. The fire risk in these areas has been raised to “extreme,” weather officials said in a statement released on Sunday.

Calmer winds helped firefighters near Athens bring several fires in the suburbs under control, but winds are expected to pick up on Tuesday evening.

Over the next 48 hours, “a fire risk ranging from high to very extreme is expected in large parts of central Greece,” the Emergency Coordination Center said.

European countries sent help, including firefighters and vehicles. Italy sent two planes and France a helicopter, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday. Firefighting teams are on the way from the Czech Republic and Romania, she said.

According to the Greek National Meteorological Center, temperatures near Athens are expected to rise to around 38 degrees Celsius on Tuesday, with daily highs of over 35 degrees Celsius expected for the rest of the week.

Dozens of flames blazed on Monday at the edge of a fire that broke out in Varnavas on Sunday afternoon, Colonel Vassilios Vathrakogiannis of the country’s fire service said in a statement on Monday.

More than 700 firefighters and nearly 200 vehicles are working with civil protection authorities, he said, adding 18 helicopters and 17 other firefighting aircraft have been deployed since the fire spread in Varnavas.

“Local investigative authorities and units of the Directorate for Combating Arson Crimes (DAEE) are investigating the causes of the fire,” the Greek fire service said in a statement.

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