‘THERE WAS NO EVACUATION PLAN'
STORY STRAP As the death toll rises from the two wildfires that erupted on either side of Athens,the nightmare is far from over
Heartbreaking images of children jumping off cliffs and mothers running into the sea cradling their babies to escape being burnt have shocked the world in the wake of two bushfires that have wreaked havoc on the city of Athens. The blazes erupted on July 23 within hours of each other on opposite sides of the Greek capital, enveloping the ancient city in smoke and flames. Temperatures that soared past 40°C paired with gale-force winds spread the fires quickly, devastating communities across the nation. “People are shocked, lost,” Red Cross spokeswoman Georgia Trisbioti told the media. “Some of them have lost everything: children, parents, homes.”
The first flames were spotted by American tourist Debbie Vinzani, who was preparing for dinner at her hotel in the coastal village of Mati when she alerted staff to the fire. She was assured it was nothing to worry about, with staff saying the area experiences fires every year. Within an hour, the inferno overwhelmed the hotel. “I put a wet towel at my mouth,” Vinzani told the Agence France-presse. “The staff went outside and with small hoses they were trying to extinguish the fire.”
Local Mati resident Stella Petridi smelt smoke when she was at church. By the time she arrived home to check on her beloved pets, they had perished in the flames. “I put the key in the door but smoke was already coming from inside,” she told the AFP. “My two dogs were dead.” Along with other members of the community, Petridi ran into the water to escape being burnt alive, with the majority of the village up in flames. “The pines were burning, we were waiting for the gas canisters to start exploding,” eyewitness Andreas Matsios told the AFP.
The bushfires are the worst Greece has seen since 2007, when 65 people were killed by a fire that tore through the southern Peloponnese peninsula for 10 days. Rescue operations were unable to reach trapped villagers and had to rely mainly on firefighters
water-bombing from aircraft. Since then, no national strategy has been put in place to contend with the uncontrollable fires that have ripped through the country once again. Costas Synolakis, a professor of natural disasters at the Technical University of Crete, told CNBC that emergency services were unprepared. “There was no evacuation plan,” he said. “As a result, even the locals did not know where to go when the fire threatened them.”
At press time, the number of deaths from the recent fires had reached 91, with 186 injured and 25 people missing. A third of those killed were burnt alive outside a villa in Mati, where 26 bodies were found all huddled together. The “dream house” coastal villa is owned by the Fragos family, who, when they saw flames rapidly approaching, opened the gates for 30 visitors to escape safely to the water, unaware that another 26 people, including some young children, attempted to follow behind. As they reached the gate, that second group became trapped between a cliff and burning trees. “There was no light, there was smoke everywhere and they tried to find refuge in the house, which was totally burnt,” Jason Fragos told the ABC. “A young lady jumped [off the cliff ] trying to save her life, but she didn’t make it.”
Red Cross veteran Vasilios Andriopoulous was part of the rescue team that found the grim scene, and told the ABC, “They were actually families, they hugged their kids and they were kneeling on the ground, trying to protect their own kids and themselves from the fire.” Although the fires have been extinguished, the nightmare is far from over, with more casualties expected to be found. Support for Greece has come from across the globe, with international aid being deployed. The European Union offered unlimited resources, with spokesman Alexander Winterstein telling reporters all of the EU stands with the Greek people. “Everything possible will be done to provide support today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes,” he said.