The wildfire near Corinth, Greece that broke out on Sunday and has claimed the lives of two people is raging for a third day.
The fire service has deployed 350 firefighters with 110 vehicles and 18 aircraft (seven planes and eleven helicopters) to the scene. On Monday afternoon, 13 additional vehicles from the Western Macedonia region joined the firefighting effort.
The Fire Department said that there are many active scattered outbreaks. A message was sent via the emergency number 112 to the residents of Sofiana in order to ecavuate the area and move towards Rethi.
Meanwhile, traffic has been restored on the Corinth-Patra highway, from Lykoporia to Derveni, which had been closed since late Monday night, due to the fire that broke out last Sunday in the area of Rozena, Corinth.
Schools in the area will remain closed for a second day.
Two dead in Corinth wildfire
Two people have died in the fire. Greek police spokeswoman Constantina Dimoglidou said the recovered bodies were severely burnt and that laboratory tests were necessary for their identification.
The Greek Ministry of Citizen Protection said the fire brigade had launched an investigation.
The charred bodies were discovered near the village of Elliniko in the area where two men have been reported missing since Sunday night. Reports suggest that two people rushed on a motorbike to help a friend protect his flock of sheep from the forest fire.
Two firefighters were slightly injured. One sustained minor respiratory issues, while the second was injured in the eye by the force of the water spray.
Drought and heatwaves result in increased wildfires
The Mediterranean country, prone to drought and heatwaves, experienced the worst forest fire in its history in August, northeast of the capital Athens, with thousands evacuated and one dead. The fire in the suburbs of Athens left one dead and accounted for the destruction of many homes and businesses. Firefighters discovered the body of a woman at a building in Patima, Vrilissia. The woman was trapped in the building of a business.
Scientists have long warned that human-induced climate change is driving longer-lasting, more intense, and more frequent heatwaves, along with other extreme weather events.
Scientists warn that several parts of Greece, particularly the islands of the Aegean, have been facing drought as rainfall has been halved over the last decade and water reserves are being depleted.
Rainfall in many areas of Greece has decreased by up to a staggering 50 percent in previous months compared to the average of the last decade, according to research by the National Observatory of Athens network and the Meteo.gr team.
The research found a significant drop in total rainfall in most areas from October 2023 to April 2024, the period when most rainfall occurs in Greece. The only exceptions to the trend are parts of Epirus and Western Macedonia. The comparison was made with the average of the corresponding seven-month period of 2012-2022.