Wildfires Raged Out of Control Across Greece

Wildfires Raged Out of Control Across Greece



Aug. 2007  - Wildfires are raging out of control 
across southern Greece, killing at least 62 people over the past few days 
and prompting the prime minister to declare a nationwide state of 
emergency. 


Fanned by high winds, flames engulfed forests on the mountainous 
Peloponnese peninsula, while dozens of villages in the peninsula's western 
region were evacuated, roads were closed and communications disrupted. 
A wildfire on the slopes of Mount Hymettus, blanketed the greater Athens 
area with white smoke and soot Sunday. Firefighters have now extinguished 
the blaze. Local officials suspect arson after discovering rags and small 
gas canisters at the site where the fire broke out. Across the country, 
police have arrested seven people in connection with the fires. 
Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis laid the blame for the more than 190 
separate fires on arsonists and pledged to root them out and bring them to 
justice. So many fires "at the same hour, in so many parts of the country, 
it cannot be coincidence," he said during a televised address to the 
country Saturday. 


"I feel deep grief for our dead. I feel pain, deep pain for the mother who 
was lost in the flames embracing her children. I feel rage. I feel the 
same rage that possesses you," Karamanlis said. 
The prime minister expressed confidence, support, and gratitude to the 
thousands of firefighters and promised immediate and substantial financial 
help to the fire victims, and funds for the restoration of burned areas. 
The financial burden will be a heavy one because so much of the country is 
in flames. "Fires are burning in more than half the country," said fire 
department spokesman Nikos Diamandis. "This is definitely an unprecedented 
disaster for Greece." 
On Sunday, fires scorched the edges of the site where the Olympic games 
first took place some 2,800 years ago - Olympia in Ilia prefecture in the 
western Peloponnese 
Aircraft dropped water and fire suppressant chemicals, while residents and 
archaeologists joined firefighters in trying to hold back the flames. 

 
They barely succeeded in saving the ancient stadium and other historic 
buildings, but all the trees on the hill above and an area of brush and 
open space immediately surrounding the Olympic Academy were destroyed, 
Culture Minister George Voulgarakis said Sunday night. 
"Indubitably it is a very big destruction in Ilia with very devastating 
wider consequences for the environment. The wider region of archaeological 
space suffered also damage," said Voulgarakis, speaking inside a new 
archaeological museum at the site. 
But he said the fire did not damage the archaeological museum, nor did it 
damage the several dozen other ancient buildings and monuments. "The wider 
archaeological space of Olympia remains intact," said Voulgarakis. 
Fires are raging near the Peloponnese port town of Kalamata and near 
Sparta on the southeastern part of the peninsula as well as near Corinth 
in the northern region. Another fire was reported on Greece's 
second-largest island, Euboea. 

Parts of the Styra district in southern Evia island were evacuated on 
Saturday and fire emergencies were declared for five municipalities on the 
island, which lies off the eastern coast of mainland Greece. Another fire 
broke out in the eastern Attica town of Keratea. 
Greece on Friday asked the European Commission to request other European 
Union member states for water-bombing aircraft to help fight the fires 
which have been afflicting the country since the beginning of summer but 
which have erupted with particular violence in the last 48 hours. 
Even though all southern European countries are dealing with their own 
domestic fires, aircraft from France, Italy, Portugal and Spain have been 
deployed or are about to be despatched to the affected areas. 


Specialized helicopters are also being provided by Germany, the 
Netherlands, and Norway, which is not in the EU. A total of 13 aircraft 
are currently reinforcing Greece's efforts to quell the fires, despite 
adverse weather conditions. Germany, the Netherlands and Slovenia also 
have offered helicopters, all due to arrive in Greece today. 
"Member states of the European Union have once again demonstrated their 
solidarity with a country in a moment of crisis. Their quick reaction to 
Greece's call for help will undoubtedly contribute to combating these 
forest fires effectively and hopefully prevent further casualties," said 
Stavros Dimas, European commissioner responsible for environment and civil 
protection, who is a Greek national. 
"It is a tragedy that so many lives were lost," Dimas said. "It is also an 
ecological disaster of an unprecedented dimension with tens of thousands 
of hectares of habitats destroyed. And it will mean tremendous economic 
hardship for those who have lost their businesses and houses to the 
fires." 
"I wish to express my sorrow at the number of victims and send my 
condolences to the Greek authorities and to the families concerned," said 
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. "I want to thank, 
personally, the member states and other European countries that have 
contributed fire-fighting aircraft to help extinguish the devastating 
fires and sincerely hope that the situation will soon be controlled and no 
other lives lost." 

---