More than 600 firefighters from various European countries have been deployed to fight fierce wildfires in northeastern and southern Greece. Due to heat, drought and strong winds, the fire is spreading quickly in some places. This is reported by international media. Two of the fierce fires have been raging for days.
A fierce wildfire in and around Dadia National Park, in northeastern Greece, has been raging since last Saturday. According to data from the European Earth observation program Copernicus, 77,000 hectares of land have been scorched, which is the equivalent of more than 100,000 football fields. European Commissioner Janez Lenarcic (Crisis Management) mentions it on social media the largest wildfire ever raged in the European Union. Greek authorities fear that the fire will spread even further on Monday due to a shift in the wind.
The Greek fire brigade found at least eighteen charred bodies in Dadia earlier this week. Presumably they are migrants. The bodies were found on a forest path that migrants often use to cross the Greek-Turkish border and enter Europe.
Lungs of Athens
A fire rages on Mount Parnitha in the capital Athens. This is a protected nature reserve that is also called the ‘lungs’ of the capital because of the large amount of trees. The forest area is loved by Athens residents and home to over a thousand species of plants and animals, including red deer and wolves. A third major wildfire started on the Cycladic island of Andros on Saturday and is still out of control.
Authorities suspect that people started some fires deliberately. Experts believe the fire on Andros was caused by lightning.
At the end of last month, wildfires in Greece, including Rhodes, appeared to be under control after weeks, but the country was again ravaged by flames in August. Although the number of large wildfires in Greece has not increased this year compared to previous years, the fires are more intense, writes the Greek newspaper Kathimerini.
Read also: ‘Fire-fighting helicopters are often a political show, which only give the impression that you are on top of a forest fire‘
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper on August 28, 2023.