Greek inferno
Firefighters try to extinguish the flames Monday at Ellinika village on Evia island, about 110 miles north of Athens, Greece, as crews and residents battled a forest fire on the nation’s second largest island for a seventh day. Flames have decimated vast tracts of pristine forest, destroyed homes and businesses and sent thousands of people fleeing.
ATHENS, Greece — Firefighters and residents battled a major forest fire on Greece’s second-largest island for a seventh day Monday, fighting to save what they can from flames that have ravaged pristine forests, destroyed homes and businesses and sent thousands of people fleeing.
The smoke and ash from the fire on Evia, a rugged island of forests and coves almost touching the Greek mainland, blocked out the sun and turned the sky orange. The fire, which began Aug. 3, is the most severe of dozens across Greece in the past week.
Greece has been baked by its worst heat wave in three decades, which sent temperatures soaring to 113 degrees and turned pine forests into bonedry tinderboxes.
With roads on the island cut off by the flames, residents and tourists fled to Evia’s beaches and jetties to be ferried to safety by a flotilla of ferries and boats organized by the coast guard. Some had harsh words for the country’s firefighting efforts.
“We were completely forsaken. There were no fire brigades, there were no vehicles, nothing!” David Angelou, who had been on Evia in the seaside village of Pefki, said Sunday night after leaving the island by ferry to the mainland.
“You could feel the enormous heat, there was also a lot of smoke. You could see the sun, a red ball, and then, nothing else around,” he said.
Other big wildfires have been burning forests and farmland in Greece’s southern Peloponnese region, but a major blaze that encroached on Athens’ northern suburbs and the nearby Mount Parnitha national park was on the wane.
Hundreds of homes and businesses have been destroyed or damaged, and nearly 100,000 acres have burned. Power cuts Monday affected at least 17,000 households.
The causes of the blazes are undetermined, though several people have been arrested on arson charges. Greek media reported Monday the country’s top prosecutor has ordered an investigation into whether the high number of fires could be linked to criminal activity.
The wildfires have stretched Greece’s firefighting capabilities to the limit. More than 20 countries in Europe and the Mideast have responded to the country’s call for help, sending planes, helicopters, vehicles and manpower.
On Monday, Greece’s Foreign Ministry tweeted that neighboring Turkey — Greece’s historic regional rival — will be sending two firefighting planes. It said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told his Greek counterpart the wildfires that raged for days through Turkey “are now under control.”