The Greek island of Chios, in the northeast of the Aegean Sea, was placed in an emergency state due to important fires that have devastated it since Sunday, announced on Monday, June 22, the Minister of Civil Protection Yiannis Kefalogiannis.
“The state of emergency was declared on the island so that the municipality can immediately carry out the necessary actions,” said the minister who went to this island, the largest fifth in Greece.
The government spokesman, Pavloskis, called the residents on Monday to “greater caution”, and follow the instructions of the authorities.
Some 190 firefighters, 38 vehicles, 13 helicopters and four water bombers are currently displayed in Chios, which faces five different firefighters outputs, according to firefighters.
A dozen evacuated asylum and asylum seekers
On Monday “170 firefighters and 30 vehicles are expected” in reinforcement, Yiannis Kefalogiannis also said.
With violent winds of intensity six on the Beaufort scale, “the situation is very difficult,” said the mayor of Chios, Yiannis Malafis, interviewed by the Greek information site ieidiseis.
“If the wind stopped a little, we could dominate this fire. But the wind has not stopped” since Sunday, he also added.
On Sunday, a dozen locations and hundreds of asylum applicants in a reception center had been evacuated. On Monday, seven villages had to be evacuated again.
Local authorities feared on Monday that fire is hazardously addressed by slow and trees, trees whose aromatic sap is used to produce putty, used in the manufacture of chewing, alcohol, hygienic or pharmaceutical products gum.
The country particularly vulnerable to fires
Registered as the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, the culture of the putty makes the richness of the island. In addition, only in the Chios this phenomenon can be observed where a sap with a particular flavor and texture flows from the lentiscus pistachers.
Greece, a Mediterranean country hit by climate change, is particularly vulnerable to fires every summer, fed by strong winds, drought and high temperatures.
The country awaits a significant heat wave in the next few days with temperatures that can exceed 40 ° C locally, especially in Athens, according to time forecasts.
Source: BFM TV
