2023-08-27 20:09:11
The race against time continues. Hundreds of firefighters continue to battle the blazes, especially in northeastern Greece, where deadly fires are raging for the ninth day in a row. The largest fire, which presents a unified front, continues to devastate the northern region of Evros, near the port town of Alexandroupoli and the Turkish border, according to firefighters.
The fire started last Saturday and 19 suspected migrants, including two children, were found dead this week in the area. The inhabitants of the areas of Lefkimmi, in Evros, and Kassitera, in the neighboring region of Rhodopes, were ordered to evacuate their homes on Sunday by a message from Civil Protection.
“Incalculable” destruction
The deputy regional governor of Evros, Dimitris Petrovic, spoke on the public channel ERT of a “very difficult situation” which caused incalculable destruction. “We have launched a new call for the reinforcement of means”, he added. “Because from Monday, the winds are changing, the threat is increasing and we don’t know how and if we will be able to stop the advance of the front of the fire” “All of this concerns us,” he said. he added. The fire is ravaging in particular the protected forest of Dadia, a national park which is an important habitat or wintering area for birds of prey.
In northern Athens, a fire continues to destroy vegetation on Mount Parnes, one of the green lungs of the Greek capital. On the island of Andros, in the Cyclades archipelago, firefighters have also been fighting since Saturday after a fire started, no doubt caused by lightning, according to firefighters.
In 2023, the fires, which the government blames on climate change, burned more than 120,000 hectares in the country, according to estimates by the National Observatory – three times the annual average since 2006, for its part noted the Observatory. forest fires in Europe.
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