(AP Photo/Thodoris Nikolaou)
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- Greek firefighters prevented a wildfire from reaching the ancient Olympics site.
- The three significant fires, and dozens of smaller ones, began Wednesday.
- The wildfires flared up amid the country's worst heatwave in over 30 years.
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Firefighters in Greece successfully prevented a raging wildfire from spreading to an archaeological site at the birthplace of the ancient Olympics.
The fires, which sparked amid an extended heatwave, forced the evacuation of dozens of villages, according to the Associated Press.
The wildfire had threatened the site at Olympia, the location where the Olympics took place every four years beginning in 776 B.C. for over a millennium.
"This country is facing an unprecedented environmental crisis with multiple fires fueled by a heatwave entering a second week," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the AP while visiting near the ancient grounds.
The blazes destroyed buildings and parts of the country's forests, though no deaths or severe injuries were reported, according to the AP.
Three major fires - near Athens, on the island of Evia, and in southern Greece - join dozens of smaller ones that broke out Wednesday amid what is described as the country's worst heatwave since 1987, sending temperatures up to 113 Fahrenheit, the AP reported.
Neighboring countries like Italy, Turkey, and others in the Mediterranean region are also experiencing brutal temperatures, as an EU disaster response group plans to send firefighters and water-dropping planes from EU members to those struggling to fight the blazes.