Greece’s firefighters are tackling another wildfire that broke out on Monday on the island of Chios as PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned of a difficult summer ahead for the country.
A small hamlet on the western coast of Chios, in the eastern Aegean, had to be evacuated on Monday after a blaze broke out. The Fire Service said the wildfire was burning forestland in the area of Sidiroundas.
A warning message from the 112 emergency number was sent to residents telling them to move from the area of Metohi towards the beach with the same name.
Meanwhile, two large wildfires that burned near Athens on Sunday are now under control. The fire service reported that the fires at Stamata and Keratea have no active fronts.
Strong firefighting and civil protection forces remained on the scene throughout the night to contain and successfully put out any rekindlings after the flames were extinguished on Sunday.
There were still 145 firefighters with 42 vehicles, two helicopters and seven units on foot operating in Stamata on Monday morning, with another 138 firefighters with 39 vehicles, two helicopters and eight units on foot in Keratea.
These were being assisted by a host of volunteers and their vehicles, as well as water tankers and heavy machinery supplied by the Attica Region and the National Defence General Staff.
In a statement on Sunday, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vasilis Kikilias spoke of “two extremely dangerous fires” that started within inhabited areas and spread very rapidly due to the strong winds.
Mitsotakis: Greece faces a difficult summer from wildfires
Greek PM Mitsotakis warned on Monday that Greece is facing a difficult summer. Speaking at a cabinet meeting he noted that the wildfires were largely caused by “an extremely difficult June in terms of weather conditions, with high drought and unusually high winds for this season,” while the summer ahead was predicted to be particularly dangerous.
“I think that these days we saw much better coordination, we saw very early intervention by the Fire Department, we saw for the first time the great importance of drones for the early detection of fires. I think we saw a better coordination of the police, local government and volunteers and the result of this effort was that, despite the difficult conditions, the damage and extent of burnt areas was limited compared to the magnitude of the threat,” he said.
“For example, I looked at the data from the two very difficult fires in Parnitha and Stamata. In each of these two fires, the burnt land appears to be less than 100 hectares,” he added.
Mitsotakis noted, however, that the battle against the fires would last a long time, as Greece was only now entering the heart of the firefighting season, and that “it will certainly not be won without the assistance of the citizens, especially in the field of prevention.”
He announced that the government was therefore extending the deadline for clearing plots of land from dry vegetation by another 15 days, as it has been shown in practice that “nothing is more useful than early preparation and citizen participation in the collective defense against natural hazards”.