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THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE have fled wildfires burning out of control in Greece, including a major blaze just north of the capital of Athens that left one person dead.
A protracted heatwave has turned forests into tinderboxes and flames threatened populated areas, electricity installations and historic sites.
Firefighters are battling 56 active wildfires, Civil Protection chief Nikos Hardalias said.
Multiple evacuation orders were issued for inhabited areas of the mainland and the nearby island of Evia, while the fire near Athens burned forests and houses in its path heading toward Lake Marathon, the capital’s main reservoir.
“We continue our effort hour by hour to tackle the multiple fires we face today,” Mr Hardalias said. “Conditions are exceptionally dangerous.”
The wind picked up this afternoon in many parts of Greece, increasing the risk of fires.
Athens’ main trauma hospital said a 38-year-old man died after sustaining a head injury from a falling utility pole in Ippokrateios Politeia, one of the neighbourhoods north of Athens affected by the fire.
On Evia, the coast guard mounted a major operation to evacuate hundreds of people by sea, using patrol vessels, fishing and tourist boats and private vessels.
Dozens of other villages and neighbourhoods were emptied in the southern Peloponnese region and just north of the Greek capital as blazes raced through pine forests.
“We’re talking about the apocalypse, I don’t know how to describe it,” Sotiris Danikas, head of the coast guard in the town of Aidipsos on Evia, told state broadcaster ERT, describing the sea evacuation.
The coast guard said 668 people had been evacuated from beaches in north-east Evia by early this afternoon after flames cut off all other means of escape. Coast guard vessels continued to patrol the coastline.
A coast guard vessel was also rescuing another 10 people trapped on a beach by another fire near the town of Gythio in the southern Peloponnese region.
Climate change
Greek and European officials have blamed climate change for the multiple fires burning through swathes of southern Europe, from southern Italy to the Balkans, Greece and Turkey.
The UN’s IPCC has said that global warming has caused an increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events.
The world has already warmed by about 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times due to human activity, and the UN IPCC has warned that this is likely to pass 1.5C between 2030 and 2052 if the increase continues at the current rate.
It is not only temperature that has changed: there have also been changes in rainfall, declines in snow and ice, and increases in sea-level as the oceans heat up.
This year, Greece has been baked by its most protracted heatwave in three decades, with temperatures soaring to 45C.
20 people injured
Thousands have fled homes and holiday accommodation, while at least 20 people, including four firefighters, have been treated for injuries. Two of the firefighters were in intensive care in Athens, while another two suffered minor burns.
Firefighters went door to door in areas around 12.5 miles north of Athens telling people to evacuate, while helicopters dropped water on towering flames and thick smoke blanketed the area.
Authorities sent alerts to mobile phones in the area urging residents to leave, while a refugee camp on the outskirts of the capital was evacuated overnight.
Constant flare-ups that threatened inhabited areas hampered the work of hundreds of firefighters there.
The fire halted traffic on the country’s main highway connecting Athens to northern Greece and damaged electricity installations. The power distribution company announced rolling cuts in the wider capital region to protect the electrical grid.
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#ClimateCrisis
@james.mac: Not really, normal natural event. In fact some plants need a fire in order germinate. The problem is not the fires, the problem is too many humans living close to where these types of fires are a normal natural event.
@John Vectravi: The fires are occurring 4 times the historic norm though, and each time releasing captive carbon held within the trees. It’s a slippery slope we are on, some countries will become uninhabitable and it will happen sooner than we think.
@Alan Biddulph: Just curious as to how the historic norm is calculated. How far back do records go?
@William Tallon:fires leave a layer of dark matter, soil can be read like a map.
@Alan Biddulph: dark matter? Really?
@Eoin Hennigan: yea scorched layers Eoin, you pedantic melt
@William Tallon: long enough, ice cores tell a story about the ambient temperature that is quite telling. Having said that, I’m sick of EVERY natural event being attributed to climate change.
@Alan Biddulph: thank you for clarifying your previously inaccurate statement.
@Alan Biddulph: That doesn’t really answer my question. For example what would the annual average number of wildfires have been in Greece during the ‘Roman Warm Period’ which occurred around 2,000 years ago? It lasted 500 years. Is there any way of comparing this figure to say one far the last 500 years and is there any scientifically valid way of ascertaining these figures?
@William Tallon: I think you’re asking the wrong guy.
@William Tallon: We can go back and look at the fossil record, not just recent history. Ice cores and soil all provide a record. Humanity is on the clock now, we might only have a few more generations.
@Alan Biddulph: “pedantic melt”. Brilliant, I’m nicking that one
@Eoin Hennigan: you’re deadly craic
Just back from Corfu. The women we were renting off was explaining that a lot of these fires are started on purpose at this time of year as once areas are burnt out they are essentially rezoned. So if you couldn’t build on a place because it was farmland but it was burnt or in danger of fires then it gets rezoned so people can sell it off and make a fortune… especially in Greece and across in albania.
@Philip Flanagan: That may be so, but it’s still only part of the story. The other part is that the south east of Europe is experiencing scorching temperatures that facilitate this practice. And we’ve only recently seen the Canadian north west right up to the artic experiencing a devastating heatwave. It’s a pattern, and it cannot be explained away with a couple of individuals with bad intentions and financial incentives.
@Philip Flanagan: Southern Europe is facing unprecedented heatwave and wild fires. Regardless of the source of ignition, the fires are now out of control driving by the unusually hot weather. Look at what is happening further afield in the US, over million internal refugees in California caused by wild fires, this is not normal.
@Philip Flanagan: “the women we were renting off” seriously? Thanks, I’ll disregard all the science in that case.
@Philip Flanagan: It’s a fair point but these days with hotter dry spells, a few controlled burns turn into a hundred wildfires.
It’s disturbing to know that we are literally watching the unfolding of our climate collapse… and individually there’s sod all you can do about it.
Be it manmade or a natural process, massive change is about to happen and anyone who thinks their kids won’t be affected is an idi0t. All we can do is mitigate the damage unless huge action is taken by governments worldwide. I won’t hold my breath.
Everyone: recycle, turn off lights and taps (when not using), and try not to burn as much. #TéamhDomhanda #DonÁr-dTomhchaí
Our earth
Solving Covid was a stroll in the park
Eat meat , jet off on Holiday, buy clothes you dont need, drive a gas guzzler, play the fiddle while your world goes up in smoke.
@Clurichaun: Cut down every tree in your postage stamp garden, then pave over any remaining plant life…then go see what some of the causes of higher temps are.
Their emergency services are fantastic. Let’s hope they get them all under control soon. Hate to think of how many homes are lost to these wildfires. Greece is having a rough time.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: hardly the Fiona Fitzgerald from Waterford?
have your say