climate
Extreme fires: Greeks are fighting on many fire fronts
After the partial evacuation of a hospital in Alexandroupolis, patients have been accommodated on a ferry. photo
© Uncredited/e-evros.gr/AP/dpa
The forest fire situation in Greece is extremely tense given the strong winds. Large areas are on fire, especially in the north-east of the country. There are also fires in Tenerife and Canada.
In the night of Tuesday, firefighters and residents in many places Greece is again trying desperately to save houses and villages from massive fires. The situation in the north-east of the country is particularly tense: television pictures showed how people in the suburbs of the port city of Alexandroupolis were fighting for their homes.
The university hospital and numerous surrounding towns in the city were evacuated. Large fires are also raging on the islands of Euboea and Kythnos, west of Athens and near the northern Greek port of Kavala.
Winds fuel the flames
By far the largest source of the fire is in the Dadia National Park, far in the north-east of the country near the border with Turkey. Strong to stormy winds blew there and fueled the flames. A man died; According to media reports, it was a migrant who died of smoke inhalation. Migrants who entered Greece illegally from Turkey via the border river Evros are always hiding in the forest area of Dadia. How many people are there and could be at risk is completely unclear.
The plumes of smoke from the massive Dadia fire are so great that the smoke can clearly be seen and smelled hundreds of kilometers away. Residents and tourists on the islands of Ithaca and Kefalonia in the Ionian Sea, more than 500 kilometers to the west, were woken up on Tuesday morning by clouds of smoke and stench, the sky was dark. Satellite images showed that the swaths could even reach Italy if the wind blows accordingly.
A nightmare night
Many people from the evacuated areas have now arrived in Alexandroupolis and need to be accommodated. Some of the approximately 175 patients from the evacuated university hospital were accommodated on a ferry, and serious cases were also transferred to hospitals in other cities, as reported by the Skai news channel.
The people of Nea Artaki and Psachna on the second largest Greek island of Euboea also spent a nightmarish night. A great fire raged on a mountain there, threatening the villages. The industrial area of Nea Artaki and other settlements had to be evacuated. Houses and stables burned down, Greek media reported; In many places, water and electricity failed because power poles burned down and the lines were torn down with them.
The situation was similar on the island of Kythnos, where there have been fires on two fronts since Monday and the flames have not yet been brought under control. Four settlements have been evacuated so far, but the fire has not yet reached the houses. Hotels are not threatened either, the mayor of the island told journalists.
Indication of arson
A fire broke out in the municipality of Aspropyrgos 15 kilometers west of Athens on Tuesday morning. Strong winds also prevailed there, and residents were asked to leave the area via warning SMS. There, as well as for the forest fire in Dadia, the authorities assume arson, although the suspected perpetrators have not yet been identified. However, twelve fires broke out in Dadia within two hours on Monday, for example, which is considered an indication of arson.
In the Boeotia region west of Athens there has been a fire since Sunday night – a shepherd died there on Monday who tried to save his animals from the flames and probably died of smoke inhalation, the fire brigade said.
The further prospects for the development of the fires were extremely bad on Tuesday: Civil defense warned of a very high to extremely high risk of forest fires for almost all of Greece. The main problems are the strong winds and, in some places, squalls, which drive the flames in front of them and expand the fire fronts. They make fire-fighting work almost impossible and also very dangerous for the fire-fighting helicopters and planes.
The situation in Canada
Control, but no all-clear for the fires in the south of the Canadian province of British Columbia. At least 50 buildings have been destroyed in the past few days, local Prime Minister David Eby said on Monday – but the numbers could rise.
“It’s safe to assume that most, if not all, of these buildings are residential,” Eby said. The situation had recently eased somewhat due to the deployment of many rescue workers, especially in the city of West Kelowna. Residents and authorities are also hoping for rain that is forecast for today.
Canada has been battling wildfires in several parts of the country for months. Tens of thousands of people have already had to evacuate their homes in several affected areas in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. The air quality also decreased rapidly. The military is now deployed there to provide logistical support for firefighting.
The situation in Tenerife
Despite great progress in fighting the flames, the devastating forest fire in Tenerife continues to spread for the time being. “It will not be easy (…), but we hope that we will have the fire completely under control in the next few days,” said regional minister responsible for territorial policy, Manuel Miranda. The fire that broke out six days ago has so far covered almost 15,000 hectares in the north and north-east of the Canary Island, which is popular with holidaymakers, as the authorities announced on Tuesday night. That’s more than seven percent of the island’s total territory. According to official information, more than 250 emergency services fought the flames on Tuesday night without a break.