Forest fires: 400 fires in Greece within 24 hours

The fire’s havoc in Greece doesn’t end there. Over 400 wildfires have been counted in the last 24 hours!

Fire reached a suburb of Athens on Saturday: Strong winds overnight pushed the fire to the city of Thracomacadones, where several houses were burned.

Thousands of people have fled since Thursday before the fire broke out on Mount Parnitha on the outskirts of Athens.

Hundreds of people were rescued by ferry from the island of Evia, east of the capital. Initially there were no reports of victims.

Dramatic situation in Greece

The fire in Greece’s second largest island, Evia, continues to grow. Fanis Spanos, the governor of the Central Greece region responsible for the island, sent out a desperate call for help on Facebook on Saturday morning. “The fire continues unabated, it burns forests and destroys houses, it threatens human life! We finally want the serious number of fire extinguishers we’ve been asking for since day one! More fire engines! “

More than 700 firefighters were on duty. They struggled not only with fire, but also with high temperatures and wind, which continued to fuel the flames.

The Greek fire brigade received support from Cyprus, France and Israel, among others. Germany is also sending aides to Greece. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs of the German Press said, “Firemen from North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and the Technical Relief Organization are currently preparing to go to Greece with emergency vehicles to support the fight against wildfires there.” To be.” Agency on Saturday.

Cities such as the Peloponnese peninsula, Crete in the far south of the country and Grevena in the north are also affected by the fires after prolonged heat and drought. Thousands of hectares of forest, many homes and businesses have already been destroyed. A man died on Friday near Athens.

Greece is suffering from one of the biggest heat waves in more than 30 years. The temperature reached above 40 degree Celsius throughout the week.

There are fierce fires in other countries as well.

evacuation in turkey

Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from wildfires in Turkey’s southwest. Coastal areas in the south and west have been particularly badly affected for several days.

Emergency services were not shut down in the Turkish western city of Mugla, and according to local officials in the Koyigiz district, the first people were evacuated on Friday evening. Again, firefighters had to shield a power plant from flames and remove flammable material, state news agency Anadolu reports.

The situation in Antalya, in the south of Turkey, has now calmed down. However, the fire caused great destruction there. All the villages were burnt to ashes.

Sicily declares a state of emergency for six months

Sicily’s regional government has declared a six-month state of emergency and crisis due to wildfires on the popular holiday island. Fires have been raging in Sicily since late July and the extraordinary weather conditions will also pose a permanent risk in the coming weeks, regional president Nello Musumesi justified the decision in a Facebook message on Saturday.

In Sardinia, the fire department in the province of Oristano reported a fire at a tourist residence on Saturday morning. According to their own statements, emergency services stopped the flames from spreading to the surrounding vegetation. So no one was hurt. In Oristano, on the west coast of Holiday Island, several wildfires caused heavy damage.

In the south of Italy, temperatures currently sometimes exceed 40 °C. Sicily, Calabria and Apulia have been the hardest hit by recent fires. The fire brigade reported two deaths from San Lorenzo, at the tip of the Italian boot, people died in the flames.

The “Dixie Fire” Is Spreading in California

Even the fire department in California is unable to get the situation under control: the “Dixie Fire” is spreading further. After heavy fighting in the north of the US west coast state already ravaged the small town of Greenville by a time of gold rush, officials on Thursday ordered the evacuation of two other locations. But not all residents leave voluntarily.

The so-called “Dixie Fire” has been raging since mid-July. Thousands of firefighters are fighting against the flames, which have grown so much that they are now creating their own microclimate and thus giving themselves more fuel. 110,000 hectares are already affected. The “Dixie Fire” is already the sixth largest fire in California history. There is no end in sight.