[1] The fires were, at that time, the second-deadliest wildfire event in the 21st century, after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Australia that killed 173.

Over 700 residents were evacuated or rescued, mainly from the seaside settlements located north of the port town of Rafina, namely Kokkino Limanaki and Mati, where rescuers found 26 corpses trapped just meters away from the sea,[5][6] apparently hugging each other as they died.

[15] Due to very strong wind gusts in both areas, up to a maximum of 124 km/h, 77 mph, 12 Beaufort,[16] both wildfires spread very quickly.

[19] At the time, the fires were the second-deadliest wildfire event to have occurred worldwide since 2001, after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Australia that killed 173.

[26] Thousands of vehicles, 4,000 homes, and 40,000 pine and olive trees were burned; the fire destroyed Mati and nearby Kokkino Limanaki.

On 26 July 2018, the Mayor of Penteli, Dimitris Stergiou, claimed that the deadly fire that hit Mati in eastern Attica began from a damaged cable at a utility pole.

[29] In a press conference held on 26 July, Nikos Toskas, the Alternate Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection, said that there are strong indications of arson, for the fires both in Kineta and Penteli.

[32] A video obtained from a home security camera by the newspaper, showed that a fire started in a clearing near houses in Daou at 4:41 p.m. and quickly spread due to the wind.

Businesses handed out free food and water to victims and first responders, organizations such as the Hellenic Center for Disease Prevention and Control launched donation drives, and citizens opened their homes for those impacted, both independently and through Airbnb.

[3] During the wildfire of Mati, several prominent Greek news outlets did not cover the incident as an environmental issue, but rather a political event.

[3] In August 2021 similar wildfires struck large parts of Greece and Turkey, following a period of exceptionally high temperatures of up to 47 °C, albeit a general absence of strong or even medium winds.

[41] The Greek minister Nikos Toskas said never before have there been so many offers to assist firefighting efforts, lauding the solidarity other countries have shown.