Europe

Wildfires in Greece force more evacuations as other European blazes are brought under control

European Union officials have blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires

Firefighters try to extinguish part of a wildfire in Menidi, a suburb west of Athens, Greece. Photograph: Nephele Nomikou/Getty Images

Elena Becatoros
Thu Aug 24 2023 - 12:46

Major wildfires burning for days in north-eastern Greece and on the fringes of the capital Athens have incinerated more tracts of forest and forced additional evacuations as firefighters struggled against strong winds and arid conditions.

The wildfires have left 20 people dead over the last week.

Eighteen of those, including two boys aged between 10 and 15, are believed to be migrants who crossed the nearby border with Turkey.

Their bodies were found by firefighters near a shack in a burnt forest area in north-eastern Greece.

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Sixty firefighters have been injured battling the flames, fire department spokesman Ioannis Artopios said.

Elsewhere in Europe, fires on Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, north-western Turkey near the border with Greece, Portugal and Italy were being brought under control, officials said.

In Greece, dozens of firefighting aircraft, including from other European countries, assisted crews on the ground trying to beat back multiple fires raging across the country.

On Wednesday alone, firefighters battled 99 separate blazes across the country, authorities said.

In Greece’s northeast, a major fire in the Alexandroupolis area that forced numerous evacuations, including of the city’s general hospital, was burning for a sixth day with few signs of abating.

According to the European Union’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service, the Alexandroupolis fire had scorched more than 723sq km by Wednesday, making it one of the largest on European soil in several years.

Copernicus is the EU space programme’s Earth observation component and uses satellite imagery to provide mapping data.

On the outskirts of Athens, a major fire that destroyed homes in the foothills of Mount Parnitha on Wednesday was racing across the mountain’s forested slopes and threatened the heart of a national park that is one of the last wooded areas near the Greek capital.

Thick, black smoke engulfed a village near Athens, Greece after several wildfires broke out simultaneously, locals say. Video: Reuters

Evacuation orders were issued for several outlying suburbs overnight into Thursday, while other neighbourhoods were put on standby for possible evacuation.

With firefighting forces stretched to the limit, Greece has asked other European countries for assistance.

Germany, Sweden, Croatia and Cyprus have sent aircraft, while dozens of Romanian, French, Czech, Bulgarian and Albanian firefighters have been helping on the ground.

Mr Artopios said 260 firefighters, including more than a dozen from France, were battling the Parnitha fire supported by a multinational force of 10 planes and 11 helicopters.

Bulgarian, Albanian, Romanian and Czech firefighters with vehicles were helping with the Alexandroupolis fire.

With their hot, dry summers, southern European countries are particularly prone to wildfires.

European Union officials have blamed climate change for the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires in Europe, noting that 2022 was the second-worst year for wildfire damage on record after 2017.

Gale-force winds combined with hot, dry weather to whip up the flames over the past week in Greece, making the blazes exceptionally difficult to bring under control.

Burnt trees in the village of Avra, near Alexandroupolis town, in the north-eastern Evros region, Greece. Photograph: Achilleas Chiras/AP

Weather conditions this summer have been “the worst since meteorological data have been gathered and the fire risk map has been issued in the country”, Greece’s minister for climate crisis and civil protection Vassilis Kikilias said.

Extensive parts of the country have been placed at level five – the highest for fire risk – seven times this year.

Mr Kikilias said that was double the number of 2021, four times that of 2019 and seven times more than in 2012.

In Spain’s Tenerife, a fire that has scorched 150sq km was being brought under control by Wednesday night.

“It’s a very tough battle that the firefighting teams are winning,” Canary regional government official Manuel Miranda said on Wednesday evening.

In Turkey, firefighters in the north-western Canakkale province on Thursday brought a wildfire under control less than 48 hours after it erupted amid high temperatures and strong winds, Turkish minister for forestry Ibrahim Yumakli said.

Mr Yumakli said the fire, which had forced the evacuation of 11 villages, had affected 40sq km including 14sq km of agricultural land.

A firefighting volunteer who was injured and six other people who suffered from smoke inhalation were being kept under observation in hospital, Mr Yumakli said.

Firefighters evacuate a goat during a wildfire in Acharnes, a suburb of northern Athens, Greece. Photograph: Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

“We are extremely happy that there was no loss of life,” Mr Yamukli said.

“However, we are heartbroken for other creatures of the ecosystem that were affected.”

Shipping traffic through the Dardanelles Strait, a major maritime thoroughfare linking the Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara, was being partially restored to one lane only, after being completely suspended as fire-dousing aircraft use the waterway to pick up water.

Mr Yumakli said another fire in central Turkey has also been brought under control and there were no other active wildfires in the country on Thursday.

[ Greek village engulfed as several wildfires break out simultaneously ]

Two large fires in Portugal and a smaller one in Italy were brought under control by Thursday, those countries’ authorities said, but temperatures – and the risk of new fires – remained high. – Associated Press

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