Tag: Greece

The fires that have burned into the suburbs of Athens are contained, according to the Environment News Service. Pushed by very strong winds, the fires burned thousands of hectares and destroyed about 150 homes. No deaths have been reported.

Some of the citizens have criticized the government for a slow response to the fires. A few photos and videos show residents fighting fire in their neighborhoods with buckets of water and tree branches, saying they had not seen a fire truck and they were on their own. Newspaper editorials and mayors of villages have complained about the way the fires were fought.

These were the worst fires since 2007 when 76 people were killed by fires in Greece, many of which were set by arsonists.

A decrease in the wind speeds has given firefighters in Greece a chance to gain more containment over some of the fires that have burned into the northern edges of Athens, the nation’s capital. But thousands of residents in the suburbs had to evacuate as dozens of houses were burnt.

Air tankers from several countries are helping to fight the fires. A state of emergency was declared in eastern Attica over the weekend, where fires have burned numerous homes and blackened 30,000 acres.

According to DW-World.de:

In addition, the European Union mobilized two further planes from its European tactical reserve of fire-fighting aircraft (EUFFTR), said Mann. Established to assist EU member states that face major fires, the EUFFTR makes planes available during the summer in a project costing 3.5 million euros ($5 million).

The EU and EU countries have sent in planes to help put out the flames

“They are being financed by the EU and have been leased from July 1 to September 30,” Mann said. “The idea is to help member states with their own efforts.”

The two EU fire fighting planes are stationed on Corsica, putting them close to both France and Italy and almost exactly halfway between Lisbon and Athens, according to the European Commission.

The planes have already been dispatched five times this summer; most recently to battle the fires in Portugal a few weeks ago.

This video has some good fire footage, including an aerial firefighting tactic not seen in the United States, that of two air tankers making drops in tandem, one right after the other.

(THE VIDEO IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE)

Over 10,000 people have evacuated from Agios Stefanos, a suburb of Athens, Greece as a large wildfire approaches the outskirts of the city. Officials declared a state of emergency as fires pushed by strong winds burned for the third day.

Earlier two large children’s hospitals were forced to evacuate along with other outlying suburban areas.

From Sky News:

Alexios, a resident of the threatened Athens suburb of Dionysos, told of his scramble to leave his home on web messaging site Twitter.

“Signing off, the power’s out. Fires near Rodopoli (West of Dionysos) and approaching Rapendoza (just East of Dionysos),” he wrote on Saturday evening.

An hour later, he gave the update: “Evacuating Dionysos. Stuck in traffic with two terrrified dogs and hundreds of panicky drivers. Wish me luck.”

Fortunately Alexios was able to reach the city centre. He wrote an hour afterwards: “Escaped the evacuee convoy early, safely in Athens proper (dogs safe too).”

Those who have left their homes now face an anxious wait to see if the flames will engulf their homes.

Here is a video that shows some of the action. It is narrated in a British accent which adds to the drama.

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Here is another video. A portion of it is still photos without narration.

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European Union activates civil protection mechanism for Greece’s wildfires.

From China View:

BRUSSELS, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) — The European Commission said here Sunday that it has activated the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection following a spreading wildfires in Greece.

The decision was made by the request of Greece after extreme weather conditions fueled the spreading of the fires in the country, the commission said in a statement.

The wildfires continues to spread on Sunday in areas near Athens, forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes.

Italy immediately sent two Canadair CL-415 amphibian water-bombing aircrafts to assist in putting out the fires, the statement said.

In addition, upon a request by the Monitoring and Information Center (MIC), France is ready to mobilize two Canadair CL-215 airplanes of the European tactical reserve of fire fighting aircraft (EUFFTR), which was established this summer to assist member states facing major fires.

Cyprus offered to send a fire fighting helicopter, according to the commission.

Some amazing photos are coming out of the fire situation in Greece.

Very strong winds and 100 fires in Greece combined to challenge firefighters on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Late in the day on Friday the winds abated making it possible to gain containment over most of the fires, however several homes burned.

Interesting hardware in the photo below.

One of the fires 25 miles northeast of Athens is still burning unchecked and is threatening homes and villages. Firefighters are concerned that the fire could spread west onto the slopes of Mount Pendeli and threaten Athens’s northern suburbs. The military moved antiaircraft missiles and ammunition from a military base in Varnava.

Here is a video from ITN News about the fires. Notice the effects of the wind.

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Thanks Dick

We’re bringing you the story of a fire in Greece which is threatening homes near Athens because we needed an excuse to include the photo above of the firefighter attempting to put out a vegetation fire with a dry chemical fire extinguisher. We will have to assume that for some reason that was the only option available to the firefighter at that time.

Is there a watch-out situation that addresses attacking the head of a fire with a dry chemical fire extinguisher?

There are no more details about the fire available except that a warehouse and two trucks burned, and the fire is being fought with 100 firefighters, 25 engines, and 5 helicopters.