For extensive fires in the south of Greece and western Turkey, the local authorities had to evacuate hundreds of people. In the Turkish province of Izmir, forest fires claimed two victims on Thursday, AFP reported on Friday night.
A fire broke out in Crete on Wednesday evening, near the resort of ierapetra in the southeast of the island. According to the chairman of the Regional Association of Hoteliers Jorgos Tzarakis, they evacuated approximately 3,000 tourists and 2000 locals, most of them at night. Tourists were transported mainly to the north of the island.
According to Jannis Andrulakis, Vice -pect, they also ordered the evacuation authorities that firefighting aircraft could not intervene during the night. The extinguishing was also complicated by strong winds: its impacts were up to the ninth degree of the Beaufort scale. The intervention of rescue services in Crete also makes inaccessible terrain difficult.
Another fire broke out on Thursday afternoon about 30 kilometers east of Athens near the port city of Rafina. Mayor of the city for public service television Ert said the fire has hit five to six houses. A spokesman for the fire brigade informed that approximately 170 firefighters, 48 fire trucks, 17 aircraft and seven helicopters intervened when fire -fighting. About 300 people were evacuated.
In Turkey, two major fires broke out around Izmir, the third largest in the country. In both cases, the authorities evacuated three villages. Opposition MP Salih Uzun said that an older, immobile resident died in a fire near Odemis. The second victim was a forest worker.
Province’s governor Süleyman Elban described a strong wind as the main problem with a speed of up to 85 kilometers per hour, which often changed Direction. According to him, the wind conditions made it difficult to intervene from the ground and the air. The flames also interrupted traffic on the highway from Izmir.
According to the authorities of the fires in the province of Izmir, as well as the other of the previous days, which have already managed to get under control, caused power lines – They were created by spark or short circuits.
Turkish Minister of Agriculture Ibrahim Yumakli confirmed that several recent fires were caused by disorders on above -ground power lines – especially under high load and in combination with wind and drought that increase the flammability of the stands.
Turkish meteorologist Ismail Küčük also pointed out that up to 90 percent of forest fires originated in human activitywhere unkempt or outdated electric cables pose a serious risk, especially in dry and wind conditions.
The Greek authorities warn that the risk of fires will be “considerable” in the country, which is the hottest month of the year. In the summer of 2024, Greece recorded the hottest summer in history – according to WWF and Athens National Observatory, 45,000 hectares of territory burned.
However, 2023 was the worst in history in terms of total fire -destroyed areas – it was 175,000 hectares of the area. The fires then claimed 20 victims. Experts attribute the increasing number and intensity of fires to climate change and call on Turkey and other countries to take preventive measures.
