Approximately 8,000 residents and tourists were evacuated from the coastal resort of Agia Galini on the Greek island of Crete on Wednesday evening as a wildfire, driven by gale-force winds, approached to within a kilometre of the town, local authorities said.

The Greek fire service confirmed that three firefighters have died while tackling blazes in the country. Two were killed when their vehicle was surrounded by flames on a mountain road near the village of Kria Vrisi in Rethymno; the third collapsed while fighting a separate fire near Gytheio in the Peloponnese peninsula.

More than 200 firefighters and 53 vehicles have been deployed to the Crete front, but winds gusting up to 125 kilometres per hour have grounded most aerial water bombers, the vice-governor of Rethymno, Maria Lion, told the state broadcaster ERT. The flames have destroyed homes, agricultural buildings and livestock, though officials caution that a full damage assessment is impossible until the fire is brought under control.

Evacuees were taken to a sports hall in the municipality of Festo and to local school buildings. The strong winds were expected to persist on Thursday, according to the National Observatory of Athens, complicating containment efforts.

Authorities have placed several regions, including Crete, the Athens area and most islands of the Aegean Sea, on orange alert for high fire risk.