High fire risk on Saturday across half the country

A high risk of fire is forecast for most of Greece on Saturday 22 August 2026. According to the Daily Fire Risk Forecast Map, issued by the General Secretariat for Civil Protection of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, risk category 3, that is high risk, is forecast for that day across a very large part of the mainland and the islands. The map was published on Friday 21 August 2026 at 14:14 and concerns the following day only. The figures set out here are attributed to the General Secretariat for Civil Protection as reported by the news outlet that republished them, and not to a reading of the service’s own website.

Category 3 is forecast for most of the Peloponnese, Central Greece, Thessaly and Epirus. The same level of risk applies to many islands of the Aegean and the Ionian, including Crete, as well as to parts of Macedonia and Thrace. A lower, medium risk, that is category 2, is forecast for Western Macedonia and for Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. This geographical distribution means that the operational readiness of the fire service forces remains heightened across almost the entire country. The map, however, reflects probability and conditions; it is not a forecast that a fire will break out at any particular spot and does not prejudge where an incident will occur.

The General Secretariat calls on citizens to avoid activities in the countryside that could cause a fire through negligence, without the recommendation, as republished, specifying which particular activities are covered. The number for reporting a fire remains 199. The forecast for Saturday follows a similarly heavy picture the previous day, when high risk for Friday 21 August had also been recorded, while in recent weeks the country was under a prolonged wave of high temperatures.

The map does not name individual municipalities or settlements and is not accompanied, in the form in which it was republished, by detailed data on winds, temperatures or humidity to support the classification of each area. Nor does it refer to active fire fronts or include nationwide measures banning movement in forest land. Such decisions are taken separately by the local authorities and announced through separate acts, which are not recorded on the daily map. At the same time, the Fire Service has stepped up surveillance with airborne means and unmanned aircraft during the fire season. Citizens planning journeys or work in forest and farming areas on Saturday 22 August 2026 need to check the announcements of their own region and municipality, since these may differ from the picture given by the general map.