No injuries have been reported.
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Greek police said the large fire swept through a big camp for refugees and other migrants on the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos, forcing its evacuation.
The fire brigade was investigating the cause of the fire, the official said.
Lesbos is now housing 5,600 refugees but it only has capacity for 3,600.
“Between 3,000 and 4,000 migrants fled the camp of Moria”, to the surrounding fields, with strong winds fanning the flames also hampering firefighters, the police source said.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras speaks during a meeting on addressing large movements of refugees in the Trusteeship Council Chamber in NY on September 19, 2016.
He added that around 95 unaccompanied minors housed at the Moria camp were evacuated to the Pikpa reception site located nearby.
But the agreement has been fraught with delays, and most of the people in island camps have applied for asylum in Greece, launching a lengthy process during which they can not be deported.
The blaze at the Moria camp has left a trail of destruction including damaged tents and housing units. There were no reports of any migrants being injured.
Nine migrants were arrested on public disturbance charges after the chaotic scenes.
More than 5,000 people live on the island’s camps which were created to house 3,500.
“We have been saying for a very long time that overcrowding on the islands must be eased”, regional governor Christiana Kalogirou told private Skai television.
Officials said: “There was tension in the evening”. “There is a great need for decongestion of the islands.in the future things could become much more hard”, she said.
The procedure is part of the EU-Turkey deal brokered in March, in which the EU pledged to work towards visa-free travel for Turkish citizens to Europe’s Schengen zone in exchange for Ankara’s assistance in curbing migrants crossing to the Greek islands. But the agreement has been fraught with delays.
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A previous fire at Lesbos’s Moria centre on 1 June destroyed living quarters and led to six people being hospitalised.
