A forest fire in northeastern Greece, near the Turkish border, has already destroyed houses and crops and forced the evacuation of several villages, and plowing continues for the second day in a row.
Driven by strong winds, the flames broke out early Saturday morning, for unknown reasons, burning forests and bushes in a rural area of western Thrace near the port city of Alexandroupoli, about 25 kilometers from the Turkish border.
The firefighting forces were reinforced this morning, with the mobilization of seven planes and four additional helicopters, the Fire Department reported in a statement.
They thus join the ten teams that with 176 firefighters, 48 tankers, four seaplanes and two helicopters have been working since yesterday to extinguish the fire.
Last night “it was very difficult,” the president of Alexandrópolis, Yannis Zamboukis, told public radio on Sunday, quoted by Efe.
Firefighters battle several scattered fires. According to Yannis Zamboukis, “there are at least three active fronts”.
Fire Service spokesman Yannis Artapoyos described the blaze as “wild, difficult, powerful and aggressive”.
The flames have already destroyed houses, cars and a church in the towns of Aetochori and Pefka, ERT television reported.
At least eight hamlets were evacuated on Saturday, by order of the authorities, who declared an “emergency situation” in and around Alexandroupolis and sent warning messages to the residents of the area so that they are prepared to leave their homes at any time.
Three elderly people were hospitalized with respiratory problems, due to the dense smoke, while the commander of the Fire Service of the Evros regional unit, Spyros Koutras, was transferred to the Alexandroupolis hospital due to “indisposition”.
According to firefighters, during the day on Saturday a total of 46 forest fires were declared throughout the country.
The Greek Civil Defense warned that the high risk of fires in recent days will increase from today, due to high temperatures -the forecast is that they will exceed 40 degrees again next week-, the drought and the strong winds.
Greece suffered a prolonged heat wave in July, with record temperatures, which caused numerous fires, some of them very destructive, such as the one that devastated the island of Rhodes, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of tourists.
Source: TSF
