Athens is under a bell of smoke, destructive fires are approaching ancient Olympia, in Turkey people are killed in the flames – the fires around the Mediterranean Sea continue.
Istanbul / Athens / Rome – In Italy, Greece and Turkey devastating fires are turning vacation regions into charred landscapes.
On the Greek peninsula of Peloponnese, the flames approached the village of Olympia and the famous ancient site, where the Olympic flame is always lit before the games. In many areas of the Mediterranean, the highest risk of fire is predicted for the coming week, and according to experts, severe fire damage can be expected in the coming days.
Fires endanger the Greek Unesco World Heritage
Within eight hours, seven fires broke out around Olympia, said the head of the Greek community service in the evening. Numerous firefighters fought against the fires, the Greek Minister of Culture has set up a crisis camp in the Unesco World Heritage Museum. Bulldozers dug trenches along the site to keep the flames from spreading.
Nationwide, 161 fires broke out within 24 hours, the civil defense said on Wednesday evening. A fire in the north of Athens was initially largely contained, thanks in part to decreasing winds. However, the city was under a bell of smoke. The intensity of the fires in Greece has now exceeded the usual level of the summer months, said Mark Parrington from the European Copernicus Climate Change Service of the German Press Agency.
Turkey: major fires out of control
In Turkey the situation is even more extraordinary. No such intense fires have been observed there since data collection began in 2003, Parrington said. According to official information, the fire brigade in Turkey has fought over 160 fires so far, most of which have been extinguished. But major fires in the provinces of Antalya and Mugla have not been brought under control for days. Yesterday, the flames in Milas (Mugla) also spread to a coal-fired power station. The mayor of Milas, Muhammet Tokat, tweeted in the evening that the flames had hit the power plant. The plant would be evacuated. According to Turkish media, explosive material had previously been removed.
According to Doganay Tolunay, a forest engineer at Istanbul University, an estimated 100,000 hectares of land have fallen victim to the fires so far. In Mugla alone, 2,000 houses have been damaged so far, and 16,000 people have had to leave their homes, according to the Interior Ministry. In Antalya, the damage is estimated to be significantly higher. So far, eight people have died in the fires.
Southern and Eastern Europe also affected
Two people were also killed in forest fires in Albania and Kosovo, in Bulgaria two forest workers died trying to extinguish the fire on the border with Greece. In Italy, too, the fire brigade continued to fight flames, for example in Sicily in the province of Palermo. Violent forest fires have been raging there for days. Fire fighters from other parts of Italy came to support. The civil protection authority of the popular holiday island predicted the highest fire risk level for the north and east again for Thursday. The temperatures there are likely to be over 40 degrees in some places.
The Coldiretti Agricultural Association spoke of millions in damage to the environment, the tourism industry and other branches of the economy. The number of large fires had risen sharply this summer compared to previous years. The large islands of Sicily and Sardinia as well as many southern Italian regions are particularly affected. Thousands of hectares of forest and agricultural land were burned and many animals fell victim to the flames. In the scorching heat and drought, strong winds drove the flames again and again.
In Italy, arson is often a cause of such fires. The police have repeatedly arrested suspects over the past few days. dpa
