“Rhodes is on fire,” said reporters from the Greek public service Broadcasting ERT the situation on the holiday island on Sunday. The fires have been raging in the south of the island for six days, eating through the pine forests. On Friday it seemed as if the fire brigades had everything under control. But then the wind changed and the fires got out of control. In other areas of Greece – such as Corfu or the Peloponnese – the forests are now burning.
On Rhodes, the fire brigade and many volunteers tried to extinguish the fire on three fronts over the weekend, using fire-fighting aircraft, helicopters and tractors. “The protection of human life is a priority,” said a fire department spokesman. This means that the fire brigade had to leave houses to the flames. As well as many vehicles and animals.
A total of 19,000 people were evacuated from villages and hotels, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ office said on Sunday. It was the largest evacuation operation that has ever taken place in Greece.
According to initial police estimates, 16,000 people had been brought to safety by land and 3,000 people by sea from beaches. Many of those affected were evacuated by boat from the coasts because escape routes overland were cut off by the devastating fires.
A spokesman for the German travel group Tui told SZ on Sunday that holiday flights to Rhodes would be suspended until the middle of the week. However, the flight connections remained in place to bring guests back to Germany. 7,800 Tui guests are said to have been affected by the fire and evacuated.
Tourists were also brought to safety on Corfu on Sunday. The fires were worst in the north of the island, the towns of Santa, Megoula, Porta, Palia Perithia and Siniesersten were evacuated and people were taken to the coastal village of Kassiopi. reports the newspaper Kathimerini.
“Coal is everywhere”
The situation on the ground continued to be dramatic on Sunday: houses were burning in the village of Kiotari on Rhodes, as an ERT reporter reported: “Coal is everywhere. It’s a disheartening picture.” The ten-kilometer front was moving towards the village of Asklipio in the afternoon. In the area of Apollona and Laerma, a church also burned.
The villages of Lindos, with its famous fourth-century acropolis, and Kalathos, as well as the settlement of Pefkos, had to be evacuated on Saturday. These villages are among the most popular tourist spots on the island.
Fishermen and private individuals brought vacationers from the fire areas with their ships. In addition, all tourist boats have been confiscated by the Coast Guard to take vacationers to a safe place. They were housed in hotels in the north, which has so far been spared from the fire, and in schools and gyms.
The Greek Air Force was also deployed to Rhodes on Sunday. Planes with forest firefighters and police officers landed on the island: the officers should take part in evacuations and, if necessary, guard properties, officials said.
Tourists on Rhodes are taken to safety on all sorts of vehicles.
(Photo: Eurokinissi /afp)
No electricity, no phone
“There have never been so many villages affected,” said a German who has lived on the island for years, the German Press Agency. “Otherwise it burns towards the west coast. But this time the fire came over the mountain to the southeast.”
In their village of Lachania, all residents waited on Sunday to see if their village would also be evacuated. The power went out hours ago, she’s sitting in the dark, said the German. “I packed the most important things in the car, water, food for my dog. But I’m waiting for the authorities’ instructions, it doesn’t help to drive somewhere headless.”
Escaping the fire.
(Photo: dpa)
The official authorities also confirm that there are currently massive power cuts in the south of the island. Many networks were destroyed by the fire. In order to be able to maintain a supply, authorities have put the old power station in Soroni back into operation.
Video footage in Greek media and social networks showed people leaving their vacation spots on foot – some panicking, others calm, some carrying their suitcases, others nothing but their clothes.
20,000 German vacationers on Rhodes
According to the German Travel Association (DRV), at least 20,000 German vacationers stayed on the island at the weekend, only a small number were affected by the evacuations. Guests would be asked to follow the authorities’ instructions. The tour operators took care of it with their local tour guides. Travelers planning a trip to Rhodes in the next few days would be contacted by the organizers and informed whether the trip can take place.
A Tui spokesman told the SZ that the forest fires on Rhodes were a force majeure, i.e. force majeure. The tour operators are prepared for such events and can, for example, offer their customers alternative destinations in other regions not affected by forest fires.
Historic heat wave
It hasn’t rained on Rhodes for a long time, it is very dry – and there is no end in sight to the heat wave. As the meteorological office announced, temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius are still expected in the south of the country.
Locals are trying to get the fire under control near Lindos.
(Photo: Lefteris Damianidis/Reuters)
Also in northern Greece there are currently values around 40 degrees in many places. Even most of the Aegean islands have temperatures above 38 degrees. One of the leading Greek meteorologists, Konstantinos Lagouvardos, assessed the situation on state television in such a way that this heat wave could be the longest since measurements have been taken in Greece “if things continue like this”.
The fire brigade therefore also warned of the great risk of forest fires for other areas. “We have even more difficult times ahead of us,” said a spokesman on state television. The fires in the Athens area and on the Peloponnese peninsula have been brought under control. But they flare up again and again because everything has dried up.
In the course of global warming, the risk of forest fires is increasing in many regions Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC Has been established. A warmer climate can contribute to more water falling from the sky, also more often in the form of heavy rain. However, the periods without precipitation are becoming longer in some cases. And especially in areas that are already dry, the danger of periods of drought increases. Forest fires can spread faster in extremely dry vegetation.