Emergency services constantly in use, evacuated tourists and canceled flights: Greece continued to fight the consequences of serious forest fires on holiday islands on Monday. According to Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the coming days would remain dangerous. “We are at war (in terms of fires)”, the head of government stressed. This condition is due to climate change, he added.
During a parliamentary debate on Monday, Mitsotakis thanked everyone who had helped fight fires in Greece in recent days. There were no casualties and this was due to the efforts of the fire brigade, community service, coast guard and volunteers.
Large fire in Rhodes still not under control
In the southeast of Rhodes, a large fire was still not under control, despite the massive deployment of firefighting planes and helicopters.
Firefighting planes from Turkey and helicopters from Egypt were deployed to amplify the situation. Again and again, strong winds fanned the flames, according to a spokesperson for the fire department. However, tourists are not in danger, because they were brought to safety in the north of the island on Saturday.
More than 100 Austrians have been evacuated from fire areas so far
It is estimated that about half of the 19,000 people who had to leave their hotels in Rhodes on Saturday left on Monday or were resettled in hotels, halls, schools or private homes. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 100 Austrians have been evacuated from the acute fire areas in Rhodes. such as the Pfeil-Ehrengruber family, who described their experiences to the “Krone”. As of Monday afternoon, the authorities were not yet aware of compatriots who were directly in the fire area.
Cooling only from Thursday
The fire brigades in Greece are battling the flames in a total of 64 regions of the country on Monday. The risk of fire remains extremely high. This applies to the Greater Athens region, the Peloponnese peninsula and many islands in the Aegean Sea. This will continue in the coming days, the Greek Civil Protection warned on Monday and published a map showing the risk of forest fires. For the first time in almost two weeks, the meteorologists announced a cooling from Thursday. Temperatures are expected to drop from 40 to 45 degrees for the first time in almost two weeks to around 35, which is normal for the season.
Other countries in the Mediterranean continue to groan under the heat and drought. The risk of forest and vegetation fires is extremely high in Italy, Portugal, Spain, France and Turkey.
Source: Krone
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