A man died in a fire that broke out Monday in the Prodromos region, located northwest of Athens, Greece, as firefighters continue to battle the fire in that region for the third day in a row.
According to the first information from the Greek public television ERT, the victim was an 80-year-old farmer who tried to save his animals from the fire and died suffocated by smoke.
According to the firefighters, more than fifty troops, 16 vehicles, two planes and a helicopter are already working to extinguish the fire in the place, although their efforts are hampered by the strong winds in this region.
This Monday morning, the Civil Protection authorities issued an alert warning the inhabitants of Prodromos and Saranti beach about a possible preventive evacuation to the Thisvi region, 16 kilometers east of the fire site. The measure affects about 500 people.
Another fire was recorded on the island of Eviam, where 42 firefighters and four planes are fighting the flames.
At the same time, firefighters continue to battle the fire that broke out on Saturday in northeastern Greece in “extreme weather conditions.”
The spokesman for the fire department, Yannis Artopoyou, explained to the country’s media on Monday that there is a major focus of flames north of the port city of Alexandroupolis, located about 25 kilometers from the border with Turkey.
“From the beginning, we struggled with extreme weather conditions. It is difficult to fight the fire because there is a lot of wind,” Artopoyou said.
The fire started on Saturday, but for no known reason yet, burning forests and vegetation in a rural area of western Thrace, near Alexandroupolis.
The firefighting forces were reinforced this Sunday morning with seven planes and four helicopters, thus adding to the 176 firefighters, 48 tanker trucks, four seaplanes and two helicopters that have been working since Saturday to put out the fire.
The fire destroyed houses, cars and a church in the towns of Aetochori and Pefka, ERT television reported.
At least twelve villages were evacuated on Saturday by order of authorities, who declared an “emergency situation” in and around Alexandroupolis, sending warning messages to area residents to be prepared to leave their homes at any time.
Three elderly people were hospitalized with respiratory problems due to the heavy smoke caused by the fire. Seven firefighters and a volunteer were hospitalized with injuries.
The European Commission has already announced the mobilization of 56 firefighters, 10 support vehicles and two planes, which will arrive in Greece today to help fight a new wave of fires, according to a statement from the European body.
In addition, a fire team previously deployed by France is already in Greece, as part of the EU’s preparation plan for the forest fire season.
The now-announced assistance follows the EU’s response to Greece’s earlier activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism last month, when nine planes, 510 firefighters and 117 vehicles were mobilized, as well as the satellite mapping service. of the Copernicus program, which continues to assess the damage in the country.
In July, due to strong winds and extreme heat, a fire ripped through almost 17,770 hectares in ten days on the southern island of Rhodes, a popular tourist destination in the southeast Aegean Sea. Some 20,000 people, mostly tourists, were evacuated from the island because of the fire.
At the end of July, the country experienced its worst heatwave compared to the same period in other years, with temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius in many places, according to the Athens National Observatory.
Source: TSF
