A large fire that broke out Saturday evening near Oraiokastro, on the northern edge of Thessaloniki, left a recycling plant still burning into Sunday and covered much of Greece’s second city in a cloud of toxic smoke.
By Sunday morning the worst appeared to be over. The fire service said there was no longer an active front in the surrounding forest, and crews had turned their attention to the industrial sites still alight, above all a recycling factory that kept burning through the night.
Where things stand
Around 160 firefighters were working the scene Sunday with five ground units, 52 vehicles and a large number of volunteers. Two water-dropping planes and two helicopters started flying at first light, and the fire service said more aircraft were on order if the situation demanded it. Crews from the regional government and the civil engineering corps brought in water tankers and earth-moving equipment, and a specialist military unit was activated to help.
A driver arrested
Police moved quickly to establish a cause. A 76-year-old Greek man, taken in as the main suspect within hours, confessed that the fire started when he handled his vehicle dangerously and threw off sparks that set the surroundings alight, according to authorities. Investigators said he showed clear signs of drunkenness. He was arrested under Greece’s flagrante delicto procedure, which allows for immediate arrest and fast-track prosecution when a suspect is caught at the scene, and is being brought before prosecutors.
A specialist arson squad flew up from Athens to support the local investigation team. The fire service said that from Jan. 1 to the early hours of July 5, it had issued 516 fines worth about 629,000 euros and made 158 arrests under the same fast-track procedure. Nearly all of them, 145, involved fires caused by negligence, against 13 blamed on arson.
How the night unfolded
The fire started at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Strong winds pushed it into three separate fronts that reached the neighboring districts of Anthoupoli and Filothei, where shops and businesses were badly damaged. At the height of the emergency, authorities feared three settlements might be lost before firefighters managed to hold the line.
Forest fire in Filothei suburb of Thessaloniki, Greece on July 4, 2026 (Konstantinos Tsakalidis / SOOC)
The greatest danger was around a group of recycling facilities packed with flammable material. The fire jumped to nearby businesses, wrecking workshops and vehicles, and the plastics, aluminum, paper and detergents burning at the plant threw up thick black smoke. Explosions went off repeatedly through the night.
Dimitris Aslanidis, mayor of the neighboring Pavlos Melas municipality, told public broadcaster ERT that homes had burned, though he could not say how many, and that workshops and factories were among the buildings lost. In some cases, he said, police had to step in to move residents who refused to leave.
A city under smoke
Kostas Yioutikas, deputy governor of Central Macedonia, said northwesterly winds were driving the smoke straight toward the city. By daybreak the plume was visible from Aristotelous Square in central Thessaloniki and, according to state broadcaster ERT, stretched more than 20 kilometers, with the smell of burning plastic hanging over most of the city.
Authorities urged residents to keep their windows shut and stay indoors as much as possible, warning that the smoke could be toxic. The advice was aimed above all at vulnerable groups: the elderly, children and people with breathing problems.
Injuries and evacuations
Four firefighters were taken to the 424 General Military Hospital overnight, most of them with breathing difficulties and one with an orthopedic injury. All were reported out of danger. Ten ambulances with paramedics and doctors stayed in the area, coordinated by the health operations center for northern Greece.
Three emergency alerts went out over the 112 system by 4 a.m., ordering people out of Filothei and Anthoupoli and warning about the smoke. Residents of Filothei were sent toward the indoor gym in Efkarpia, those in Anthoupoli toward the sports ground in Liti.
