More than a dozen villages have been evacuated on the island of Evia near Athens since Tuesday, with some 85 people rescued by boat from a beach, as the wildfire scorched pine trees and sent clouds of ash and smoke into the air. Miles away, skies in Athens were darkened.

Authorities cleared more people on Evia on Thursday as church bells sounded a warning. More than 170 firefighters with 52 engines and six aircraft were operating in the area.

More villages were evacuated in the Peloponnese region on Thursday as a blaze raged near the archaeological games site in Ancient Olympia, but its treasures were out of danger, authorities said.

“Our forces fought an all-night battle ... to keep the archaeological site and the town intact,” Citizens’ Protection Minister Mihalis Chrisohoidis told state television.

The site, where the Olympic flame begins its journey to the city hosting the modern Olympics, is one of Greece’s most popular tourist attractions.

Local media showed farm animals among swings in a children’s playground, moved there to save them from the flames.

Reinforcements arrived from Cyprus and France and two aircraft from Sweden were expected later on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a wildfire that reached the compound of a coal-fuelled power plant in southwest Turkey and forced nearby residents to flee in boats and cars was contained on Thursday after raging for some 11 hours, officials and media reports said.

Strong winds drove the fire toward the Kemerkoy power plant in Mugla province late Wednesday, prompting evacuations from the nearby seaside resort of Oren.

Navy vessels were deployed to help ferry away residents, while cars formed long convoys on roads leading away from the area, Haberturk television reported.

Turkey’s worst wildfires in decades have raged for nine days amid scorching heat, low humidity and constantly shifting strong winds. The fires have so far killed eight people and countless animals.

In coastal Mugla province, where tourist hotspot Bodrum is located, fires continued to burn in six areas on Thursday, officials said. Fires also raged in five districts of Antalya province, another tourism destination, where two neighbourhoods were evacuated on Wednesday.

Precautions were taken before the flames reached the Kemerkoy power plant. The plants hydrogen tanks were emptied, and workers were evacuated. Flammable and explosive substances had also been removed, according to state broadcaster TRT.

Turkey’s president faces mounting criticism as fires rage

Turkish presidential communications director Fahrettin Altun said an initial inspection of the power plant showed its main units suffered no serious damage. The privately run plant uses lignite to generate electricity, according to its website.

Television images showed dozens of fire trucks and water tankers surrounding the plant’s main building, some dousing water as part of a cooling effort that also involved planes and helicopters. The main building did not appear to have been affected.

A forestry authority official warned, however, that the Kemerkoy plant and another nearby power station were still at risk due to the unpredictable winds. Authorities blocked roads and were not allowing people to get close to Kemerkoy.

Before the fire reached the power plant, firefighters had been working for two days to protect it from advancing flames. Videos from an adjacent neighbourhood in Milas showed charred, decimated trees.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has come under intense criticism over an allegedly slow response to the blazes and inadequate preparedness for large-scale wildfires. The government acknowledged that the country did not have a usable fleet of water-dropping planes.

Firefighting aircraft from Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Spain and Croatia came to Turkey to back the ground operation. Planes from Israel were expected to arrive later on Thursday.

In the past week, mayors posted videos on social media pleading for aerial firefighting responses to local wildfires, and Turkish celebrities joined a social media campaign requesting foreign help to combat the blazes.

Fires ravage Italy’s Mediterranean island of Sardinia, forcing evacuations

The campaign drew an angry response from a top Erdogan aide, Fahrettin Altun, who said, “Our Turkey is strong. Our state is standing strong.”

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday that it was investigating social media postings containing the hashtag “Help Turkey” for spreading allegedly false information that the office said had harmed public morale and misrepresented the state as being “incapable” of battling the fires.

In an effort to control the flow of information, Turkey’s broadcasting watchdog warned television stations Tuesday about airing reports that it said were creating an “atmosphere of chaos” and affecting the morale of firefighters and the public.

Erdogan, whom critics accuse of increased authoritarianism, has accused opposition party members of perpetuating a “terror of lies” for disparaging the government’s wildfire response. The president said in an interview late Wednesday that Turkey’s municipalities, which the country’s main opposition party controls in many of the fire-stricken areas, were also responsible for protecting towns. Mayors have said they were not invited to crisis coordination meetings.