Evia disaster country’s biggest ever from single fire
The wildfires in the northern part of Evia island have burnt an estimated 50,795 hectares in just six days, a figure that may reach up to 70,000, according to Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation program (EFFIS).
The data make it the biggest disaster ever in Greece from a single fire.
The second in terms of size of areas burned occurred in 2007 in the area of Paleochori-Andritsaina in Ilia, southern Greece, and destroyed 44,841 hectares.
However, the 2007 fires in Ilia did not blaze across one united front. According to fire service data, there were three different, distinct fires with different causes then.
The EFFIS system also showed that the second largest disaster due to fires in Greece this summer was on the border of Ilia-Arcadia in the Peloponnese, which burned an estimated 15,015 hectares.
It is followed by the fire in Lakonia (in the area of Gytheio), which burned an estimated 11,112 hectares. The blazes in Attica that, according to EFFIS, incinerated 8,454 hectares of forest were the fourth largest this year in Greece.
