Hundreds of tourists and residents were evacuated to the Greek island of Lesbos, where a wildfire raged on Saturday night and threatened the popular seaside resort of Vatera.
The fire sent up thick clouds of smoke that obscured the sun as the flames swept within meters of homes, forcing residents to flee while others tried to protect their homes.
Greece is experiencing its first day of a heat wave that is expected to last ten days with temperatures of 42C expected in some areas, raising fears of more fires. According to Greek firefighters, there were 53 fires in 24 hours.
More than 500 evacuations
The fire near Vatera broke out at 10 am local time and spread to this coastal town and the nearby town of Vrisa. In Vatera, whose city council ordered the preventive evacuation in the morning, 450 people left two hotels and 92 homes according to the Police, after nine people were evacuated from a beach, including five of foreign nationality.
Several cars and small boats participated in the operation, according to the city council. At least two houses were destroyed by the flames, according to state television ERT. Firefighters remained deployed at the site this Saturday night.
Adverse weather conditions
Greek firefighters also continued to battle for the third day in a row against a raging fire in Dadia National Park, Greece’s largest Natura 2000 site, known for its colony of vultures, in the northeastern Evros region.
The fire, “exceptionally difficult”, estimated the firefighters, approached the town of Dadia in the early afternoon, ERT underlines.
A total of 320 firefighters and 68 devices have been deployed since Friday night, including a large number of volunteer firefighters, supported by six water bomber helicopters and nine other helicopters.
However, heavy smoke and lack of wind, combined with high humidity overnight from Friday to Saturday, made aerial firefighting work difficult.
Increase in fires due to climate change
This Wednesday, a forest fire in the mountains near Athens damaged houses and forced several hundred people to leave, a few kilometers from the coastal town of Mati, scene in 2018 of the worst disaster caused by a forest fire in Greece. There have been 102 deaths. A remembrance ceremony was also organized this Saturday in Mati.
In the Peloponnese, a new fire broke out near Koroni this Saturday and the neighboring town of Chrysokelaria had to be evacuated in the early afternoon.
According to scientists, the proliferation of extreme weather events is a direct consequence of global warming, with greenhouse gas emissions increasing in intensity, duration and frequency.
Last year, a heat wave and forest fires destroyed 103,000 hectares and killed three people in Greece.
Source: BFM TV
