For the seventh day on Monday, firefighters and villagers fought a big forest fire on Evia, Greece’s second largest island, attempting to preserve what they can from flames that have charred wide swaths of virgin forest, wrecked houses and businesses, and forced thousands to evacuate.
Firefighters and residents battled a massive forest fire on Greece’s second largest island for a seventh day Monday, fighting to save what they can from flames that have decimated vast tracts of pristine forest, destroyed homes and businesses and sent thousands fleeing.
As the flame raged across the northern portion of Evia, a rough island of forests and coves almost touching the Greek mainland, the smoke and ash from the fire blacked out the sun, turning the sky orange.
Greece’s forests, including extensive tracts of extremely flammable pine trees, have become bone-dry tinderboxes as a result of the heat, which comes on top of a very scorching summer.
Other large fires have engulfed forests and farmland in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece, while a huge inferno that engulfed homes, businesses, and forests on the northern outskirts of Athens was winding down.
The flames have pushed Greece’s firefighting capabilities to breaking point, prompting the government to seek international assistance.
More than 20 European and Middle Eastern countries have responded by deploying planes, helicopters, trucks, and men.
However, many citizens and local officials have expressed dissatisfaction with the shortage of firefighters, and some have turned to Greek television networks for assistance, notably from water-dropping planes and helicopters.
Nikos Hardalias, the head of Greece’s Civil Protection, has stated that firefighters are doing everything they can. A small firefighting plane crashed on the western Greek island of Zakinthos on Sunday while battling a smaller fire there. Massive fires have also raged in neighboring Turkey for more than ten days, with firefighters still battling blazes in five locations in the coastal province of Mugla in the country’s southwest.
