The forest fires on the island of Rhodes have reached the southwest coast. According to Greek media, three hotels have caught fire.
These would mainly be properties of the holiday centers Mitsis Village and the Lindian Village and one of the hotel company Hatzilazarou Group north of the town of Kiotari. Residents and guests are being evacuated, also by sea with the help of the Greek coastguard. According to Greek media, it would be an estimated thousand evacuees.
Firefighters have been battling forest fires on the Greek island of Rhodes for five days. While the other forest fires in Greece are under control for the time being, the fire in Rhodes is still spreading.
The fires on Rhodes started in the wooded, mountainous and sparsely populated center of the island, but due to strong winds they have spread to the southwest coast where they are ravaging an area between Kiotari and Lardos. There are no injuries. Earlier, Greek media reported that buses for evacuees were deployed and hotels had been evacuated.
On the Greek island of Rhodes, firefighters have been battling forest fires for days. The fire continues to spread and evacuations are necessary. Text continues below the video.
Many European countries have sent firefighting planes and/or firefighters to assist in extinguishing the fire. Slovak and Romanian firefighters are active on Rhodes, among others. A Jordanian and an Israeli fire extinguisher are also active. Greece also receives help from its great rival Turkey. That has sent two firefighting planes and a helicopter. The two planes arrived at an air base near Athens on Saturday. Neighboring countries Greece and Turkey have a long history of mutual strife and mistrust. Turkey and Greece still have border disputes. Turkey has claims on fourteen Greek islands, including Rhodes.
In mainland Greece, it is feared that the fires will flare up again due to the drought and the heat that is sweeping across the country in waves. It was an average of 36.5 degrees in Greece on Friday, but above 40 degrees in many places. Locally it could be well above 40 degrees on Sunday
Many Greeks fearfully remember the heat wave of July 1987 when it was sweltering for almost two weeks and nearly 1300 people succumbed to the heat. The deputy director of the Greek Institute of Meteorology, Thodoris Kolidas, has said, according to Greek media, that the heat wave of that year is difficult to compare with the heat of today. Then it was continuously very hot and now there are three waves.