The EU has weighed in with help to combat wildfires in Greece, dispatching four Canadair water bombers as the battle to douse blazes that have raged around Athens intensified.
Conflagrations whipped by gale-force winds left a trail of devastation, decimating pine forests, destroying homes and forcing thousands to flee as flames tore through terrain turned tinder dry by extreme heat.
On Tuesday, about 250 firefighters, soldiers and volunteers – backed by water-dumping planes, trucks and helicopters – battled to contain what was described as a fast-moving and uncontrollable blaze about 18 miles north of Athens.The fire started the previous day in the area of Dervenochoria, and intensified overnight, forcing the evacuation of people in nearby settlements. Highly flammable pine forests turned to ash as flames swept through land parched by temperatures that have exceeded 40C.
By late Tuesday fires had engulfed the municipality of Mandra and were barrelling towards the complex of refineries owned by Motor Oil Hellas in Corinth where planes and helicopters had rushed to put out flames. A state of emergency was called in Loutraki, a resort town in the Corinthian Gulf, about 80km west of Athens.
Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis cut short a visit to Brussels to return to Greece and oversee the firefighting operation.
Acrid smoke blanketed the sky. “Until 4am there was no problem with fires in the wider region of Mandra,” said local mayor Christos Stathis earlier in the day, noting how fast the blaze was spreading. “Unfortunately, the lack of firefighting planes has brought these negative results.”
Other fires that had ripped through seaside towns south-east of Athens on Monday had been contained. But authorities said some properties were gutted as flames fanned by shifting winds tore through hillside scrub into the coastal resorts of Anavyssos, Lagonissi and Saronida where Athenians have holiday homes.
Devastation and despair was written on the faces of those who awoke to the news they had lost everything they had owned.
“[I only have] my bathing suit which I swim in, nothing else, and this shirt, I have nothing else, I don’t even have other shoes,” an 89-year-old man identified as Giorgos Nikolaou told Reuters after seeing his severely damaged house in Lagonissi. “Nothing. I am finished.”
Local media reported late on Monday that huge numbers of animals had also died.
Fazoo Farm, a stray dog shelter near Lagonissi, had been burned to the ground, with very few animals surviving the onslaught of flames.
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Corinth’s vice-prefect, Haris Vitiniotis, told Skai TV the situation was desperate in Loutraki. “For sure, there are many properties that have been destroyed. Mainly houses. About 20 to 25 houses have been completely burned.”
The vast majority, he said, were summer homes owned by Greeks.
After last week’s heatwave, the appearance of Etesian winds had at first been met with relief.
But the Greek meteorological service had also warned of the risk of forest fires, predicting the winds would become more intense on Wednesday before abating on Thursday when a second much more ferocious heatwave is expected to hit Greece.
