Firefighters in Greece struggle to save coastal resort as winds rage

ATHENS – Hundreds of firefighters in Greece on Aug 1 were battling to save a popular coastal resort north-west of Athens as violent winds continued to lash the country, hampering operations.

More than 400 firefighters, backed by several dozen specialised aircraft, were battling blazes in the area of Porto Germeno, some 70km north-west of Athens, the fire department said.

“Some aircraft have managed to operate despite the wind, and we are seeing spectacular results,” the deputy governor of the affected Voiotia region, Giorgos Dasiotis, told state TV ERT.

“Things are much better... however the wind gusts change conditions instantaneously, it’s unprecedented.”

‘Burned completely’

Dimos Economou, who lives in nearby Vilia and came to help, said many homes had burned.

“Many homes have burned. As far as I know, there have been no fatalities, but many houses have been destroyed," he told AFP in Porto Germeno as the odour of smoke hung heavily in the air.

According to meteo.gr, the weather service of the National Observatory of Athens, winds up to 130kmh were recorded on Aug 1.

“The fire was too strong, and the wind was too strong. There was nothing you could do, only watch the fire,” said Minas Tsotdanis, a farmer from the village of Aspra Chomata near Porto Germeno.

“My house burned completely. Around 15 houses were burned. We are waiting for the fire to finish, and then we will go down to see what happened,” he told AFP.

The fire broke out on July 31 near the neighbouring coastal village of Agios Vasileios.

Residents initially ignored a civil protection call to evacuate, and some 300 people had to be rescued by sea.

Up to 150 homes in Porto Germeno are believed to have been damaged by the fire, Dimitris Pagonis, a senior civil protection official from the nearby town of Mandra, told Skai TV.

Inside the town, a middle-aged volunteer told AFP that no one was coordinating the response.

“No one is managing the situation... there are houses that haven’t burned yet... animals that need to be rescued... but there’s no one here to tell us whether we can go in or not,” said Costas Liberopoulos.

‘Inconceivable’ damage

Theodore Giannaros, a wildfire meteorologist and senior researcher at the National Observatory of Athens on Aug 1 said the damage to the Porto Germeno area was “inconceivable”.

“The area that has been affected appears to exceed 4,000ha to 5,000ha,” he said in a Facebook post.

Wildfires have flared in several parts of the country this week, including on the popular island of Crete, and three firefighters have so far lost their lives.

On July 31, a fire engine crew made a narrow escape near Porto Germeno after the vehicle caught fire.

Τhe fires in Crete have affected nearly 5,000ha on the island, according to meteo.gr.

Another fire on the tourist island of Paros earlier this week burned nearly 1,000ha, it said.

On July 31, another fire threatened the suburb of Haidari west of Athens that had to be partly evacuated.

A maximum fire risk alert has been issued for Aug 1 in the greater Athens area, parts of the Peloponnese and Crete, central Greece and the border region with Turkey.

Greece’s geography, with its hundreds of islands, complicates the rapid deployment of emergency responders.

Hit hard by the climate crisis like the rest of the Mediterranean region, the country is plagued by wildfires every summer due to high temperatures, frequent heat waves, and drought.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned on July 30 that Greece – which had been relatively spared from heatwaves and major fires earlier this summer, unlike France and Spain – was headed for “difficult days”. AFP