Nearly 200 firefighters and dozens of municipal workers and volunteers spent the night battling a big blaze in the Peloponnese that started under “suspicious” circumstances on Sunday afternoon and was brought under partial control by Monday morning.
The wildfire began near the village of Portes in the east of the region of Achaia and gradually spilled into Ileia in the south as it ate through trees and underbrush, stoked by powerful winds.
Residents in the small villages of Karagianeika and Dalaboureika were ordered to evacuate overnight by SMS message from the 112 civil emergency service, though the regional governor of Achaia, Haralambos Bonanos, told state broadcaster ERT that they were back in their homes on Monday morning.
“The situation is much better,” he said. “Yesterday’s big fronts have been brought under control and now the flames are in a remote area between Haravgi and Portes.”
The Fire Service has also sent an arson investigation team to the site of the initial fire, which Bonanos described as having “suspicious” origins, though he did not elaborate, according to the latest report by Kathimerini.
Meanwhile, the continuing heatwave combined with the strong winds will greatly increase the risk of fire in five regions of Greece on Sunday, the General Secretariat of Civil Protection warned on Saturday in a weather bulletin.
The areas more at risk are the North Aegean (Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Ikaria), Attica (including the island of Kythira), Central Greece (Viotia, Evia), Peloponnese and Western Greece (Ilia, Achaia).
The Secretariat calls on citizens to avoid any open-air activities that can cause a fire by negligence, such as burning dry grass and branches, using machines that create sparks – such as circular saws, welding devices – using outdoor grills, smoking bees, and throwing lit cigarettes.
This comes as Greece welcomed the first contingent of a total of 200 EU firefighters who began their mission to assist the work of their Greek colleagues during the summer firefighting season on Friday, AMNA reported. Fire units from Bulgaria, Germany, Norway, and Finland will also help cover central Greece fronts in the months of July and August even though Greece’s fire season officially ends in October.
The Romanian contingent, which was the first foreign unit to arrive is comprised of 28 firefighters and five vehicles. The contingent will remain in Athens until the end of July. On August 1st, they will be replaced by 25 French firefighters with four tenders and three auxiliary vehicles.
The Municipality of Athens is launching a messaging service that will provide immediate information on the weather conditions that prevail in Athens during the summer period, as well as on the measures that must be taken for people’s protection.
The “heat alert” system classifies heat waves into four categories based on temperature and wind levels and informs citizens to effectively protect themselves from the extreme weather. The categorisation is based on an algorithm for predicting the effects on the health of the inhabitants of Athens during days of high temperatures. The algorithm was developed specifically for the Greek capital, through the correlation of historical weather data over a period of two decades, and mortality data.
The climate data for Athens were taken from the international dataset ERA5, while the mortality data used for the development of the categorisation system was provided by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).
