A fire on Lesbos forces tourists and residents to evacuate

The fire produced thick clouds of smoke, obscuring the sun and spreading flames meters away from homes, forcing residents to evacuate while others tried to protect their homes.

The Greece Enjoying the first day of wave Heat It will last for ten days and temperatures of 42 degrees Celsius are expected in some areas, raising fears of further fires. According to Greek firefighters, 53 fires started in 24 hours.

The fire, which broke out near Vadera around 10:00 am local time, spread to this coastal village and the nearby town of Vrissa. In Vathera, whose town hall ordered a preventive evacuation in the morning, 450 people left two hotels and 92 houses, according to police, after nine people, including five foreigners, were evacuated from a beach.

Firefighters were mobilized Saturday evening

City Hall reported that several cars and small boats participated in the operation. At least two houses were destroyed in the fire, according to state broadcaster ERT. Firefighters remained at the scene Saturday evening. Greek firefighters battled for a third day in a row a violent fire in Tatia National Park, Greece’s largest Natura 2000 site, in the Evros region in the northeast, known as a colony of vultures.

The fire, “exceptionally tough”, firefighters assessed, had approached Thadia village in the early hours of the morning, underscoring the ERT. 320 in total Firefighters And 68 engines have been deployed since Friday evening, including a large number of volunteer firefighters, supported by six water-bombing helicopters and nine helicopters.

Dense smoke and lack of air, combined with high humidity overnight Friday into Saturday, hampered aerial firefighting operations.

Extreme weather events

Wildfires raged in the mountains near Athens on Wednesday, damaging homes and forcing hundreds of people to evacuate, a few miles from the coastal village of Matti, the scene of Greece’s worst wildfire disaster of 2018. 102 people died. A memorial service was also organized at Mati on Saturday. In the Peloponnese on Saturday, a new fire broke out near Koroni, and the neighboring village of Chrysogelaria had to be evacuated in the evening.

Multiplication of Weather phenomena Intensity is a direct consequence of global warming, scientists claim, with greenhouse gas emissions increasing in intensity, duration and frequency. Last year, a heat wave and forest fire in Greece destroyed 103,000 hectares and killed three people.