“Extremely difficult” – Greece: At least one death in forest fires

According to a spokeswoman for the fire brigade, the exact cause of the man’s death is still unclear. According to eyewitnesses, he collapsed while putting out the fire.

Strong winds, villages evacuated
The weather conditions “are extremely difficult, the wind speed exceeded 95 km/h in some regions on Friday,” making the work of firefighting aircraft pilots more difficult, a spokesman said. For the third day in a row of strong winds, some villages were evacuated as a precaution, especially on the Peloponnese peninsula in the south of the country.

Fire near power station
At least four major fires broke out in the Peloponnese near the city of Megalopoli in the Arcadia regional unit, as well as in the Argolida, Messenia and Achaia regional units. In Megalopoli, a fire raged near a power station of the Greek electricity company DEI. According to the Greek news agency Ana, more than forty firefighters are fighting the flames with twelve fire trucks, six fire-fighting aircraft and two helicopters.

Earliest heat wave since weather records began
Last week, Greece reported its first heat wave since weather records began. Last summer the country was hit by an extremely long heat wave that led to numerous forest fires.

In total, almost 175,000 hectares of forest and agricultural land went up in flames. According to researchers, forest fires are becoming more common and serious due to human-induced global warming.