Report issued on one of the devastating fires near Athens, Greece

Greece wildfire July 2018

A report has been issued about one of the wildfires that recently burned into populated areas in Greece (covered by Wildfire Today here). The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens distributed the document in their Newsletter of Environmental, Disaster, and Crisis Management Strategies.

The fire started July 23, 2018 near the community of Kallitehnoupolis on Penteli Mountain, approximately 20km (12 miles) northeast of Athens and 5.6 km (3.5 miles) west of the Aegean Sea. With the extreme weather conditions it spread quickly east to Kallitechnoulopis, Neos Voutzas, Rafina, and reached Mati where it finally stopped at the coast.

The Fire Service responded, sending 60 personnel in  24 vehicles, 2 ground forces teams, 3 Canadair scooping air tankers, and a helicopter.

Pushed by strong winds out of the west the fire ran 5.6 km (3.5 miles) in about 90 minutes, moving through a densely populated area frequented by tourists.

From the report:

The aftermath is tragic. The fire burned approximately 1,276 ha (3,153 acres), estimated from satellite data. Within the area, there are approximately 1,220 totally destroyed buildings (according to official inspections) and 305 burned vehicles. The days following the event, the authorities recovered at least 91 bodies from the scene (updated July 31, 2018 at 11.00am). Several missing persons were reported and tens of injured (approximately 200 at some point) were transferred to nearby hospitals.

The wind speeds recorded by a network of weather stations were the highest seen during the summer months in the last eight years, with gusts of 100 to 120 km/hour (62 to 74 mph).

The rapid spread of the fire and with little effective notification, the residents and tourists in the communities in its path and the densely populated city of Mati had little chance to escape. The report said, “The population had almost zero time between risk awareness and reaction decision”.

Greece wildfire July 2018Many got in their vehicles and drove away from the blaze toward the coast. They encountered urban planning, or the lack of it, that included narrow streets, numerous dead ends, elongated blocks without the possibility of lateral escape, and the absence of areas that could serve as safety zones. The visiting tourists who were often not very familiar with the layout of the streets were at a particular disadvantage. The low visibility due to the smoke was another challenge.Continue reading

Firefighters dealing with 90 wildfires in Greece

greece wildfire

Above: A wildfire burns north of Athens, Greece, August 14, 2017.

(Originally published at 2:40 p.m. MDT August 14, 2017)

Numerous wildfires are burning in Greece, with one of them damaging homes and threatening more as it burns through a pine forest north of Athens. The AP reported that about 20 structures were damaged Sunday in the fire near Varnava.

Several fires are burning on the island of Zakynthos where Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis, the MP for Zakytnos, said, “It’s arson according to an organized plan”.

wildfire greece Zakynthos Pyrgos
Wildfires in Greece, August 14, 2017. One is north of Pyrgos and others are on the island of Zakynthos.

Man arrested for allegedly starting fatal wildfire near Athens, Greece

A 28-year-old man has been arrested after his weekend brush-burning around a greenhouse ignited a destructive and deadly wildfire roughly 40 miles outside of Athens, Greece.

The fire, which started Sunday, burned a forested area and charred a house on the outskirts of Agioi Theodoroi, the Associated Press reported.

The victim is believed to have been an elderly woman who was reported missing earlier in the day. Two other people suffered burn-related injuries.

The man is accused of causing a fire through negligence while burning dried-out vegetation next to a greenhouse, the National Herald reported. 

 

Aircrane pilots assist at CL-215 crash site

When a water-scooping CL-215 air tanker crashed in Greece on June 26, the pilots of two Aircrane helicopters who were working a fire diverted to the site, saw that the aircraft was on fire, and each helicopter dropped three loads of water on the flames. This helped make it possible for one of the CL-215 pilots to extract the other pilot who had a back injury.

Below is an excerpt from an article at Skies Magazine.

[Erickson Aircrane pilots Mike Strasser and Jeff Shelton] and another Aircrane, operated by Jeff Brenhaug and Don McLeod, were fighting a fire about eight miles northwest of Athens, Greece, on June 26, when a Hellenic Air Force Canadair CL-215 waterbomber—known as a “duck”—crashed on a wooded hillside. Thick black smoke was rising into the air as the two Aircranes arrived above the wreckage. 
“It was pretty obvious that it had gone down and it was on fire,” Strasser told Skies. “We decided to switch to light coverage and began dropping water on the plane. As we came in behind the other Crane for our first drop, I was looking out the bubble window and I saw two people on the right side of the aircraft. It looked like one of them was dragging the other out.”

“Just seeing somebody outside [the aircraft] was a good feeling,” said Strasser. “It crashed close to a road, and soon I saw firefighters on the ground rescuing them. We finished up there and headed back to fight the fire.”

But the story didn’t end there for the Aircrane crews. The next day they received a special visitor. Taxiarchis Papamarkos, one of the CL-215 pilots, sought them out to say his thanks.

“He told us the other guy had a back injury and couldn’t walk,” recounted Strasser. “He was trying to help him, but it was getting very hot and his flight suit was singed. He thought he would be dead in 10 seconds. He expected the plane to blow up, so he started counting backwards from 10. But when he got to four, he felt cool rain falling on him. It helped him to pull his friend out.”

The other CL-215 pilot is in the hospital but is expected to recover.

Firefighters battle two large fires in Greece

air crane fire Athens Greece
Air Crane working on the fire near Athens Photo by Dimitris.

Firefighters are battling two large fires in Greece. One has burned near the suburbs of the capital city of Athens where it has moved into a residential area.

A second fire at the southern tip of the Peloponnese in the Laconia area is being pushed by strong winds. Three villages were evacuated and scores of people fled to the beach where the Coast Guard and other vessels were attempting to evacuate them, but those rescue efforts were being hampered by rough seas.

Laconia Fire, Greece
Fire near Laconia, Greece

One of seven air tankers working on the Lakonia fire had to make an emergency landing but the two pilots were not hurt, fire officials said.

Google translated the text in the above tweet (which is a photo of the fire near Athens): “Picture sent by our reader , pulled from the Tower Apollo go.naft.gr/MszUzv ( F : Ch.Vasilopoulou )”