Because of a severe forest fire, 13 towns in north-eastern Greece have already had to be evacuated. The situation in the region is partly out of control. Actions were taken against dozens of fires across the country.
A severe forest fire is raging in northeastern Greece. The residents of five other villages in the region have now had to leave their homes, meaning that a total of 13 villages have been evacuated.
Residents of the nearby city of Alexandroupolis are told to stay in their homes because of the smoke and keep windows and doors closed. According to Greek media reports, several houses and a church are badly damaged, the emergency services are fighting the flames on three fronts with the help of firefighting planes and helicopters. Another problem is the strong wind, which constantly changes direction and makes extinguishing work difficult.
The forest fires in the region bordering Turkey are partially out of control, the fire is spreading to the east and south-west. However, emergency services could also report successes. “The situation is a little better,” a firefighter told state radio. But the danger is not over yet. Firefighters battled a total of 53 fires across Greece on Sunday.
Fire risk further increased
The fire in the north-east of the country broke out near the village of Melia on Saturday and was moving towards Alexandroupoli airport. The risk of fires is high in large parts of the country because of the drought and intense heat – particularly in the area around the capital Athens and in other parts of southern Greece, the risk has increased further and is now extremely high.
A fire that broke out in mid-July devastated almost 17,770 hectares of land in the south of the popular tourist island of Rhodes within ten days. About 20,000 people had to be evacuated. At the end of July Greece had experienced the biggest heat wave for July with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in many places. As a result, numerous fires broke out, including on the holiday island of Corfu.
With information from Lisa Weiß, ARD Studio Athens