For the first time since the fire began, the Greek island has received help from the air – much too late, according to some residents. Greece’s prime minister justifies himself: people have prioritized human lives.
Athens / Rome / Mugla – For the first time since the forest fires on the Greek island of Evia at the beginning of the week, massive air raids were flown against the flames there on Sunday.
In the northern part of the island, many square kilometers of forest are in flames, from Saturday to Sunday the residents fought against walls of fire up to seven kilometers long. The bitterness among the people is great because the fire fighting work from the air had concentrated on the north of Athens in the past few days. “They left us on fire,” a man told Skai TV.
You had no other choice, however, it is said by the rescue workers. “We couldn’t be everywhere. Just imagine that the flames in northern Athens had spread to densely populated areas, ”one firefighter was quoted as saying.
“We have no water!”
On Sunday evening, the fire brigade, military and citizens were unable to counter the flames in the coastal town of Pefki, as TV images showed. “We have no water!” Shouted the people and dragged the last drops from wells in wheelbarrows and buckets while the fire engines had to go to refuel.
Elderly people were carried to the coast by helpers to be rescued from there by boats. Cats and dogs were also herded together on the bank. Many houses caught fire, and in some places people tried to cut trees next to the buildings to prevent the flames from spreading. Fire-fighting planes were nowhere to be seen for hours, reported the Skai broadcaster. “There are great difficulties for the fire-fighting planes because the temperatures are extremely high and visibility is very poor,” said Greek civil protection chief Nikos Chardalias. Large parts of the area have now been evacuated.
Premier: Life has priority over forest
The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had repeatedly emphasized in the past few days that human lives had priority over property and forests. Around four million people live in the greater Athens area, Euboea has around 220,000 inhabitants. The area currently affected by the fire consists mainly of forest.
Some of the clouds of smoke stretch as far as Athens, 100 kilometers away, and can also be clearly seen from the surrounding islands – just like the glow of the fire at night.
Chardalias recently spoke of two major fire fronts on Evia and an extremely difficult situation across the country. Only in the north of Athens did the situation seem to have eased somewhat recently. However, the emergency services are on high alert because new fires keep breaking up, said Chardalias. In addition to the fire brigade, the military is also deployed there to prevent new major fires.
International aid
Helpers from abroad are also increasingly reaching Greece. Two helicopters and their crew arrived from Egypt on Saturday evening. Aid has also been pledged from Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Great Britain, Qatar and Kuwait. Germany wants to send 200 fire fighters and emergency services from the technical relief organization; On Sunday morning, among others, almost 60 helpers from North Rhine-Westphalia made their way to Athens.
The help is urgently needed, the emergency services and the residents of the affected regions are at the end of their tether after more than a week of continuous work. Increasingly, volunteers from other parts of the country are making their way to the crisis areas, for example in Turkey, where, according to the disaster control authority Afad, thousands travel on their own to the fire areas to support the fight against the flames.
Italy and Turkey also affected
There are also great worries in southern Italy. “Once again, the protected natural areas are in the grip of devastating fires,” said the President of the Federparchi Association for Parks and Nature Reserves, Giampiero Sammuri. The Aspromonte National Park in southern Italian Calabria and the Parco delle Madonie east of the Sicilian capital Palermo are affected. Federparchi called for the surveillance and fire protection system to be improved.
Turkey is fighting the worst forest fires in more than ten years for the twelfth day in a row. According to official information, at least six fires were not yet under control on Sunday. The emergency services mainly concentrated on the Mugla province in southwest Turkey. There, according to the Anadolu news agency, another fire broke out near Dalaman International Airport on Sunday afternoon. Initially, nothing was known of any impairment to travel. dpa
