Hundreds of firefighters are again fighting devastating wildfires on the Greek island of Evia on Sunday. Emergency services have evacuated thousands of people, and ferries are standing by to take even more people off the island as the fire continues to spread.
“We are alone. Our end is near,” Mayor Giannis Kotzias of the endangered city of Istiaia told Greek television.
The island is known for its rugged landscape and forests. That makes the area attractive for holidaymakers, but it makes it difficult to put out the fires. They have reduced thousands of hectares to ashes. In addition to residents, tourists also had to flee from the advancing fire, which is now also destroying homes in Ellinika, Vasilika, and Psaropouli.
The fires on Evia had already led to the evacuation of many municipalities. Authorities say more than 2,500 evacuees have been accommodated in hotels and other shelters. “It’s a disaster,” said a woman who boarded an evacuation ship near Psaropouli and said she lost her home. “Our villages have been destroyed. There is nothing left of our houses, our possessions. Nothing.”
The Greek aid workers are helped on Evia by colleagues from other European countries. In addition to 260 Greek firefighters, about 200 troops from Ukraine and Romania are also active on the island. Regional administrators have asked for more fire-fighting planes and complain that those planes are now mainly used in the capital Athens.
Other countries in the region also had to deal with wildfires during an intensive heatwave. They have killed at least ten people so far: two in Greece and eight in neighboring Turkey.
