Successive days of more than 100-degree heat and winds picking up have led to dozens of wildfires in Greece again, two years after conflagrations roared across the country and led to bolstering the response capability.
While tourists wilted in heat that could hit 109-113 degrees by the July 22-23 weekend, and the Acropolis was closed in the afternoons over the danger of baking rocks and no shade, the fires presented another danger.
At least one was set, with reports that a foreign national not named had been apprehended for arson over a blaze near the northern part of the capital Athens and the fire service reporting at least 81 fires being battled, said FRANCE24.
“We have been seeing evacuations of people, of animals; property damaged as well as unfortunately many animals dying,” the news service’s correspondent said of the extent of the fires.
Wildfires outside Athens forced thousands to flee seaside resorts, closed highways, and gutted vacation homes, as high winds pushed flames through hillside scrub and pine forests parched by days of extreme heat.
Authorities issued evacuation orders for at least six seaside communities as two major wildfires edged closer to summer resort towns and gusts of wind hit 70 kilometers (45 miles) per hour, whipping flames through whole swathes.
The Army, police special forces, and volunteer rescuers freed retirees from their homes, rescued horses from a stable, and helped monks flee a monastery threatened by the flames.
Water-dropping planes and helicopters tackled the flames near Lagonisi, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the capital, and a second major fire broke out in the wooded area near the resort town of Loutraki, some 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of Athens, where a children’s summer camp and rehabilitation center for seniors were evacuated, local officials said.
Fire Service spokesman Yiannis Artopios said the strong and changeable winds and mountainous terrain in which both fires broke out were slowing the firefighting effort under extreme conditions.
“The conditions are changing constantly and this has to be matched by our response. We have ordered multiple evacuations,” he said. The evacuees gathered along the coastline or were put up in schools and hotels, while coast guard vessels were dispatched to the smoke-heavy beachfront to assist if needed.
THE FLAMES OF WIND
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had said the risk of wildfires rising again would make them “extremely difficult” to deal with although in his first term, he had added water-dropping aircraft and other resources, including firefighters.
“We have always had wildfires and we always will have them. But with the effects of the climate crisis, we are experiencing fires with increasing intensity,” Mitsotakis said despite adding more resources.
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