Cooler weather will bring no respite

A spokesman for the Fire Service called Wednesday “the most difficult day of the summer,” as firefighters from Greece and 11 other countries were battling a total of 90 wildfires, 61 of them having started in the 24-hour period up to 6 p.m.

Thursday will see temperatures drop significantly, but also northwesterly winds pick up, bringing no respite from the risk of fires. Parts of seven out of Greece’s 13 regions – Attica, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Western Greece, Thessaly, Central Macedonia and the Ionian Islands – will be at extreme risk of new fires, the highest category, while most of the rest of the country will be at very high risk. The exception will be some parts of the northeast that will get some rainfall, authorities said.

Authorities ordered more evacuations across the country, including the city of Lamia, in central Greece, where a blaze erupted close to a neighborhood near a medieval castle overlooking the city. Residents of the city of Volos were warned against the thick smoke from fires that erupted close to the city, including its industrial zone. It was outside Volos that two people, a 69-year-old woman and a shepherd, were found dead. Firefighters were looking for any people trapped inside factories and warehouses in the industrial zone but had not found any by late Wednesday evening.

A mild winter with little rainfall had already rung the alarm over the likelihood of major fires in the summer. A rainy May was unable to compensate for the previous dry conditions, experts said.

Since July 15, the Fire Service has faced 61 serious fires, of which 13 were major ones. So far, the burned areas have not exceeded the 2021 toll, the highest in the past 14 years, but that year the major fires occurred in August. The fire on Rhodes has burned well over 10,000 hectares and it is estimated that by the time it is put out it will have burned 10% of the island, including many protected nature reserves.

The European Union has decided to acquire its own fleet of firefighting planes; at the moment, it has an auxiliary fleet of 28, contributed by member-states. According to the European Commission, the acquisition will cost €23 million; the contract will be signed by Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.