A wildfire on the Greek island of Crete has forced the evacuation of around 8,000 people from the seaside resort of Agia Galini. Two firefighters have died battling the blaze, which has been burning since Wednesday.
– It was a nightmare night – Maria Lioni, deputy governor of the Rethymno region on Crete, said after the evacuation.
– We evacuated about eight thousand people from the resort town of Agia Galini – Lioni told state broadcaster ERT.
Two firefighters killed near Krya Vrysi
The two firefighters died while fighting the fire in the Rethymno area. They were trapped on a mountain road near the village of Krya Vrysi as the wind kept changing direction. According to the local civil protection official Giorgos Tsapakos, the fire front in the Rethymno region is more than 15 kilometres long.
More than 200 firefighters and 53 vehicles were sent to the scene, but the wind prevented most aircraft from scooping water from the sea. A third firefighter collapsed and died while tackling a separate blaze near the town of Gytheio on the Peloponnese peninsula. Two other firefighters suffered minor injuries.
Wind and fire risk
Greek meteorological services warned on Wednesday that a high fire risk would apply on Thursday. Fires on Crete are extremely difficult to extinguish because they spread under an intensifying wind with a changing direction. Overnight in the Rethymno region in the north of the island, wind speeds reached up to 125 km/h.
The fire is believed to have mainly consumed forests and farmland, but the exact scale of the losses has yet to be estimated.
Fires across southern Europe
Greece is not the only European country dealing with wildfires. France, Turkey, Portugal and Spain are also fighting fires that have consumed thousands of hectares of land. Many parts of France are experiencing temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius, which increase the risk of fires in forests. Similar heat is being felt in Spain, where this is the fourth heat wave this summer; Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday that firefighters across the country were battling 10 fires, with the most difficult situation in central and eastern parts of the country.
In Portugal, around 1,000 firefighters are fighting three large forest and grassland fires in the north. The worst situation is in the Guarda district, where the fire is spreading quickly due to the wind. In southern Turkey, several tourist regions also saw firefighting efforts hampered by wind on Wednesday.
Źródło: Polsatnews.pl, Fot. Polsatnews.pl
