A fire on the Peloponnese peninsula is keeping emergency services in Greece on tenterhooks. Two people were killed and villages had to be evacuated. It is unusual that there is such a large forest fire in autumn.
On the Greek Peloponnese peninsula, hundreds of firefighters battled a forest fire for the third day in a row. The area in the Corinth region covers an area of around five by 15 kilometers, as satellite images from NASA show. The fire burned up to 5,000 hectares of forest and farmland, Civil Defense Minister Vassilis Kikilias said.
According to authorities, at least two people were killed. According to Greek media reports, these were two men from the village of Ano Pitsa who wanted to help a friend fight the fire.
Hundreds of emergency services involved in extinguishing the fire
More than 400 firefighters are on duty with a hundred fire engines and 13 helicopters as well as eight firefighting planes, said Minister Kikilias. Support is also expected from Italy and Croatia. According to the authorities, numerous volunteers are also on duty. Accordingly, farmers came with heavy equipment to cut paths and prevent the fire from spreading.
The forest fire broke out on Sunday in a ravine near the northern coast of the Peloponnese. Around a dozen villages had to be evacuated. Schools in the region will remain closed until further notice. Because of the clouds of smoke, older and sick people were asked to stay at home.
The smoke is so strong that the smoke reaches as far as the capital Athens, around 120 kilometers further east, as satellite images showed.
Authorities no longer expected forest fires
According to Kikilias, it was “extremely difficult” to get to the source of the fire. The authorities also did not expect to be confronted with forest fires at this point in the fall season. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told parliament the country may need to “reconsider” the length of the wildfire season, which currently runs from May to October.
The Greek fire brigade had already fought against several forest fires in the summer. In August there was one death in a large forest fire near Marathon, 40 kilometers northeast of Athens. Thousands of people had to leave their homes.