Greece wildfires: Firefighters battle raging fires in Evros, Athens
Five hundred firefighters have been unable to bring the latest Greek bushfire under control as residents flee their homes. See the photos, video.
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A monster forest fire that has raged for 10 days in the Dadia National Park in northeast Greece killing at least 20 people is still spreading, firefighters said.
“The fire is still out of control,” a spokesman for the fire service told AFP on Monday local time, adding that “nearly 500 firefighters backed by 100 vehicles, seven planes and three helicopters are fighting the flames.”
The fire is burning across a nearly 10km front, according to firefighters.
The blaze, which erupted on August 19, is devastating the Evros region near the port city of Alexandroupoli and the border with Turkey, forcing the evacuations of some villages.
On Sunday, the EU’s Copernicus climate observatory said on social media that “the burnt area has reached 77,000 hectares with 120 active hot spots”.
The Dadia forest - a major European sanctuary for birds of prey - is part of a UNESCO World Heritage national park, with vegetation so dense that water from hoses often fails to reach flames at ground level, experts say.
Another dangerous fire is also raging on Mount Parnitha near Athens for the sixth straight day, with 270 firefighters on the scene.
“The risks are still high and the fire service remains on a high state of alert,” said government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis on Monday.
Greece has been ravaged by numerous fires this summer which the government attributes to climate change.
“It has been the most difficult summer we have faced in terms of climatic conditions, which makes the work of the authorities much more difficult,” Marinakis added.
Wildfires have so far burned more than 120,000 hectares across Greece this summer, according to the authorities.
The Evros fire, Europe’s deadliest wildfire so far this summer, killed 20 people with all but one believed to be irregular migrants hiding in the forest, including two children
The Evros region is a regular entry point for migrants from neighbouring Turkey, and local border guards had warned that more asylum-seekers could have been trapped by the fires.
On the north-western fringes of Athens, a major wildfire has hit the national park on Mount Parnitha, one of the last green areas near the city.
A third major wildfire started on Saturday on the Cycladic island of Andros.
The causes of the fires have not yet been determined but police made 79 arson arrests last week over the wildfires ravaging the country.
On Sunday local time, residents of the areas of Lefkimmi in Evros and Kassitera, in the neighbouring region of Rhodopes, were ordered to evacuate their homes.
The deputy regional governor of Evros, Dimitris Petrovic, told public television channel ERT that it was a “very difficult situation” that had caused enormous damage.
The region had launched a new appeal for reinforcements and resources, he said, adding that the winds were set to change from Monday.
“We don’t know how and if we will be able to stop the advance of the fire’s frontline,” he said.
An elderly shepherd died in another fire in Boeotia, north of Athens last Monday.
“Greece is experiencing the most difficult year in terms of climate conditions since the start of the collection of meteorological data,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said during a regular briefing.
This year’s burnt land area is three times larger than the average annually since 2006, according to the European Observatory of Forest Fires.
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