MORE THAN 100 hundred firefighters are battling a wildfire that broke out in Greece’s southern Mani peninsula, prompting several village evacuations.

The fire department said 103 firefighters with 24 fire engines and 15 aircraft had been deployed to the forest of Langadia, in the Peloponnese peninsula of Mani.

Five villages were evacuated as a precaution, though communities were not believed to be in immediate danger.

Greece annually grapples wildfires during the dry summer season, with strong winds and temperatures frequently exceeding 30 degrees Celsius.

Two years ago, 102 people died in the coastal resort of Mati near Athens in Greece’s worst fire disaster.