Officials said the additional inspections were aimed at preventing water and power outages, with the increased use of air conditioning testing the country's energy capacity. Sporadic outages were reported in parts of greater Athens on Friday, but some had been planned by the grid operator for maintenance work. We have been saying it from the start of the week,” said Theodoris Kolydas, director of Greece’s National Meteorological Service. As the temperatures rose, three separate wildfires damaged homes in southern Greece this week, outside Athens and the western city of Patras. “On average (in mid-summer), we are dealing with about 50 fires per day, and many of those are under difficult conditions.

Source: ABC News July 30, 2021 13:20 UTC