‘We find ourselves at war with fire’: Battle to contain wildfires continues in Greece

The battle to contain wildfires across Greece continued for a seventh day on Monday as firefighters struggled to extinguish flames amid scenes of pandemonium prompted by the nation’s biggest evacuation of tourists on Rhodes.

With the aid of water-dropping aircraft, authorities worked around the clock to tame numerous fires. The prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said efforts were being concentrated on tackling fires on the islands of Evia and Corfu, in addition to Rhodes.

“This battle is uneven, and it will keep being like that for as long as the conditions remain hard,” he told the Greek parliament.

Warning of “three difficult days” ahead with the prediction that temperatures would rise, he said: “We find ourselves at war with fire.”

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Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said his department had received queries from “quite a number of Irish nationals” on the Greek islands and that “everything we can [do] logistically to help facilitate people to leave safely” would be done.

“We’re increasing our capacity to the region in terms of helping Irish citizens who are in challenging circumstances or in difficulties and liaising with the authorities to facilitate Irish citizens,” he said. “In some instances, this could be emergency passports, where they might have left them in the hotel and making sure that the logistics and travel arrangements can be facilitated.”

Mr Martin said those in Greece should contact their tour operator, take all advice from authorities and “evacuate when you’re asked to evacuate and don’t hesitate”. He said people due to visit Rhodes over the coming weeks should be refunded if it was not safe to travel.

Overnight, it was estimated that almost 2,500 people had fled dwellings in 17 villages along Corfu’s northern coast, while hundreds had been forced to evacuate communities on Evia.

The latest evacuations came days after incoming infernos around resort areas in the southeast of Rhodes forced what officials described as the biggest evacuation in Greek history, with 19,000 people – mostly tourists – moved to the island’s north across land and sea.

Holidaymakers described panic-stricken moments of being transported in the middle of the night in army trucks to beaches, then being placed on Greek navy ships.

Greece experienced the hottest temperatures in 50 years at the weekend, with 45 degrees recorded in the central region of Thessaly. The hot, dry, windy conditions have been likened to “super food” for fires.

Civil protection officials in Athens said they had been left with little choice but to enact what they called a “precautionary” operation to move tourists out of harm’s way on Rhodes.

“Our priority will always be human life,” Mr Mitsotakis told MPs, invoking memories of the tragedy of the fires that tore through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, almost five years ago, incinerating 102 people in their homes and cars. “[Since Mati,] we have learned to organise evacuations,” he said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has warned against travelling to areas in Greece affected by wildfires. “This is an evolving situation, and citizens should comply with evacuation orders and follow the instructions from the emergency services and local authorities,” it said.

[ ‘People were completely traumatised’: Irish woman holidaying in Rhodes will never forget ‘carnage’ as long as she lives ]

Electricity and water have been shut off for up to six hours at a time in badly affected areas, meaning at times air conditioning is not an option despite the soaring temperatures. People who would normally work in hotels and bars were instead volunteering to fight fires or were returning to their hometowns and villages. This has left some hospitality businesses short-staffed and unable to open.

A heatwave warning two weeks ago had indicated temperatures would rise above 40 degrees, but Ms Karamanos said it had been 47 degrees in direct sunlight.

Travel company TUI on Monday night said it had cancelled all outbound flights to Rhodes up to and including this Friday. It said it had also cancelled holidays for customers travelling to impacted hotels up to and including Sunday. TUI said it would contact customers directly if their hotels in the south of he island have been impacted by the wildfires.

“We are still operating flights from Rhodes back to UK & Ireland as scheduled,” it said.

[ Corfu is becoming an inhospitable place for its own people to live, a showpiece not a living organism ]

Speaking to The Irish Times on Monday morning, after the publication of Ryanair’s financial results for the three-month period to the end of June, Ryanair chief financial officer Neil Sorahan said the wildfires were unlikely to have a major impact on its business after a spokeswoman said flights would continue as scheduled.

– Additional reporting PA and the Guardian