Smoke from several wildfires covered Greece’s capital Athens on Sunday amid extreme weather warnings for the remainder of the week, writes DW.

Hundreds of fires have broken out this summer across the country, which just recorded its hottest June and July on record. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis cut short his holiday and returned to Athens on Sunday evening to help deal with the situation.

One of the major blazes raged in the town of Varnavas, some 35 km north of Athens in the region of East Attica. 5 officials said a force of 250 firefighters, backed by 67 vehicles, 12 firefighting aircraft and seven helicopters were deployed, while residents were instructed to evacuate.

Fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told reporters that some of the flames were more than 25 meters high. Late on Sunday, the fire service said it had called for the evacuation of several towns including the historic Marathon near Athens. Marathon, now with a population of around 30,000, is thought to be the site of a famed Athenian military victory over the Persian Empire in 490 BCE.

Another fire erupted earlier on Sunday afternoon in nearby Megara, triggering an evacuation alert. 48 firefighters equipped with 13 vehicles and additional volunteers were working on the ground, while several planes and helicopters provided aerial support.

In Thessaloniki, a fire in the town of Lagadas was partially under control, with 20 firefighters, 10 vehicles and one helicopter at the scene.

Later Sunday, firefighters said they had dealt with 33 out of the 40 blazes that had broken out over the past 24 hours.

Several other regions of Greece were put on high alert for wildfires.