These Vacation Paradises Are Fighting the Flames

Records of dry soil and heat lead to devastating fires in the Mediterranean Sea. In some areas, fires were already reaching the suburbs. Meteorologists have expressed little hope of a quick recovery.

While Germany experiences the typical Central European summer season and it rains all the time, Southern Europe’s leisure regions grapple with extreme heat and drought. Result: Forest fire With tremendous damage – and deaths.

“The forests of the Mediterranean region are coming under fire from a new generation of fires,” it said in a statement. WWF. The environmental organization fears that “more than half a million hectares of forest across the Mediterranean region will go up in flames this year”.

One reason for this extreme situation: The Turkey And Greece has been experiencing extreme heat wave conditions for several days. Sometimes it exceeds 40 degrees, “the soil is drying out, there has been no precipitation for a long time,” said Andreas Friedrich, press spokesman for the German Meteorological Service (DWD).

Here is an overview of the current situation in the three holiday countries:

Greece

fire department Greece speaks of a vicious circle: the wind in the fire zone north of Athens lowered on Wednesday, so that the fire was largely contained. Instead, the whole city is now under a giant bell of smoke that does not evaporate due to lack of air.

If you step onto the balcony, you’ll notice it right away: your eyes watering, the wind scratching your throat, it’s hard to breathe. Only fresh gusts will help, but they can rekindle the fire. So temporary rest is just that: for the moment.

So far more than 80 houses have been engulfed in fire in the area. Prey Fallen after the fire broke out on Tuesday. Residents had left the affected areas in panic. “Hell is behind us,” one resident shouted to local reporters from his car.

Greece: Firefighters try to douse a forest fire near Corinth. (Source: Valerie Gache/AP/DPA)

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakiso He spoke of “nightmare fires” during a tour of the field on Wednesday morning. Also, there is great relief as the fire has not claimed anyone’s life as things stand. Residents of the evacuated places were initially housed in hotels at the expense of the state, with Mitsotakis promising to rebuild the homes.

There were fires on the Peloponnese peninsula and the holiday islands of Rhodes and Kos, as well as the island of Evia. In total, fire brigades in Greece fought against 40 major fires, as announced by the Civil Defense on Tuesday evening. According to initial estimates, hundreds of homes across the country were burned or damaged.

Meteorologists on state television said the heat wave was the longest in decades. Hence the temperature should drop below 40 degrees only during the day after 8th August. The Civil Defense ordered that outdoor work be stopped or reduced as much as possible. Cities have opened air-conditioned halls where people who do not have air conditioning in their homes can find shelter.

travel tip
Doctors advise tourists not to stay in the scorching sun and not to drink alcohol. You should shower more often and wear light, loose cotton clothes.

Italy

me too Italy The fire brigade kept battling the flames. Emergency services on Tuesday called for action to start 530 wildfires across the country. More than half of them were in Sicily, Calabria and Puglia. Flames erupted around stalls, resorts, forests and residential areas.

The Civil Defense Authority classified the entire island of Sicily in the highest fire risk category. he also said Palermo and Catania heat waves with temperatures around 40 °C.

Catania airport had to temporarily cease operations last week. Photographs from the Civil Defense Authority of Sicily showed flames bursting into a holiday complex on a beach near Catania and helicopters extinguishing water tanks flew over them. According to regional president Nello Musumesi, the heat wave in Sicily is likely to continue for a few more days.

Sardinia: Emergency services continue to rescue a fire on Italy’s Holiday Island. (Source: Alessandro Toco LaPresse/via AP/DPA)

Other parts of Italy also affected by the fire, roughly west of the island Sardinia. There has been a lot of damage due to the flames in the last few days.

Turkey

In Turkey are in the last few days Multiple fires along the Mediterranean coast and inland It broke. The extinguishing work is going on here.

So far any help has come too late for eight people. According to Turkish media reports, a German-Turkish couple was also among the dead. A man and a woman were found dead on a road near their home in Manavghat in the Antalya region.

The German-born couple tried to escape to a nearby well, according to government-affiliated Turkish news agency Demiroren Haber Ajnasi (DHA).

Dogane Tolune, a forest engineer at Istanbul University of the German Press Agency, said Turkey has not experienced such a major fire in more than ten years. The last time a similar fire broke out was in 2008. Turkey’s forest office announced on Wednesday that eight fires were still under control.

Turkey: Smoke and flames rise from a forest area near the coastal city of Bodrum. (Source: Uncredited / IHA / DPA)

The Mediterranean coast, which has been on fire for several days, is popular with tourists. The regions of Antalya and Mugla are particularly affected. Many people had to run away from the fire. On Turkish TV channels, those affected reported about their flight through the flames. Farmers in the area reported that they had to leave some of their cattle in the fire and lost all their belongings.

Turkey: Massive forest fire near the coastal town of Manavghat. (Source: Arif Kaplan/IHA/AP/DPA)

Why is it burning so fast?

There can be many reasons for the fire. For example, in Italy, the police arrested two arsonists in Sicily. The Carabinieri caught two men, aged 80 and 25, red-handed in the central province of Enna on Monday, a statement said. Accordingly, they were the ones to set fires in the area of ​​the Monti Nebrodi mountains, a well-known natural area in Sicily, some of which are under nature conservation.

As the heat increases, so does the power consumption. The Greek Ministry of Energy called on all citizens not to set the air conditioning to too low a temperature. According to a statement by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, in Turkey, electricity went out in many places in the country on Monday, due to a sharp increase in consumption along with the heat.

How will the weather be in the next few days?

According to DWD, it is not raining in any of the three countries till the end of next week. Dry and hot weather will continue for the next ten days. In the wake of the drought, the risk of fires will still be high after this heat wave ends, meteorologists warn: If the winds blow, devastating fires could occur.