Greece orders evacuations near Athens as wildfires rage

3 comments

1. **From The Telegraph:**

   [Greece ](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/greece/)ordered the evacuation of hospitals and homes near Athens on Monday as wildfires spread despite “superhuman” efforts to combat the flames, the fire brigade said.

   At least five more communities were told to flee by civil protection authorities, after hundreds of people evacuated on Sunday from at least eight villages.

   “Civil protection forces battled hard throughout the night, but despite superhuman efforts, the fire evolved rapidly,” fire brigade spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said.

   “At this moment it has reached Mount Pentelicus and is headed in the direction of Penteli,” he added.

   Two hospitals in Penteli – one for children and a military facility – were evacuated at dawn according to Mr Vathrakogiannis.

   The brigade has deployed 510 firefighters and 152 vehicles, while 29 aircraft were due to set out at first light, he added.

   “Forest fire near you. Follow the instructions of the authorities,” said text messages sent to people in the Attica region, indicating in which direction to flee.

   Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the prime minister, cut his holiday short and returned to Athens on Sunday evening to deal with the crisis.

   By Sunday afternoon, firefighters had quickly dealt with 33 out of the 40 blazes that had broken out in the past 24 hours.

   But the force was battling seven more in the high Mediterranean summer heat, the fire brigade spokesman said Sunday.

   Residents of the historic town of Marathon, 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Athens, were among those ordered to evacuate Sunday.

   “Everything is burning,” said Giorgos Tsevas, a resident of Polydendri village. “I have 200 olive trees there but now they are gone.”

   On Saturday, Vassilis Kikilias, the civil protection minister, had warned that half the country was under a high-risk warning for fires due to high temperatures, wind gusts and drought conditions.

   “Throughout the night, winds remained strong, creating dangerous situations. Unfortunately, their intensity is expected to increase in the coming hours,” Mr Vathrakogiannis warned.

   **Article Link:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/12/greece-orders-evacuations-near-athens-as-wildfires-rage/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/12/greece-orders-evacuations-near-athens-as-wildfires-rage/)

2. Stay safe, everyone!

3. Check NASA’s [fire map](https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:today;@23.97,38.10,12.32z), the fire started close to the sea and it’s engulfed an entire mountain and burning through the outskirts of Athens and closing in on the suburbs. Most greek buildings are generally not that flammable, due to being made almost entirely out of concrete, but most of the buildings on the outskirts are older, often with wooden rooves and surrounded by dried up shrubbery. The plume’s covered the entire city and even reached as far down as the peloponese in less than a day.

   Firefighters can only do so much when the government refuses, year after year, to invest in firefighting equipment and hiring more firefighters, they prefer to buy fighter jets and hire cops to beat on protesters instead. It’s also an open secret that these fires are set deliberately because the current government overturned a long standing law that was meant to discourage arson that prevented the use of burned land for anything. Now once a previously protected forest is burned, it can be built upon, with wind turbines usually being the goal. Fires always start at night and often at multiple locations far apart from each other at the same time. Everyone knows this, everyone knows this is happening every year, people die, people’s properties are destroyed, and nothing is done, no one is even sacked for this. Curiously fires like this were pretty rare before this law was overturned. Every year this happens and every year the government is unprepared and fumbling to try to contain these fires.