Greece starts to assess damage as Evia fires rage for seventh day

Greek authorities have begun assessing the damage from wildfires that have devastated huge swathes of forest and forced thousands to flee from their homes over the past week, as fires burned unabated in many parts of the country.

Firefighters and residents battled a massive forest fire on Greece’s second largest island for a seventh day on Monday, fighting to save what they can from flames that have decimated vast tracts of pristine forest, destroyed homes and businesses and sent thousands fleeing.

The blaze has so far forced the evacuation of dozens of villages and thousands of people.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was due to chair a ministerial meeting on Monday on relief measures for those who lost property in the fires.

"Our aim is to complete the inventory as soon as possible, in order to immediately begin the process of compensating our affected fellow citizens," the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.

On Evia, Greece's second largest island which lies just off the mainland, water-bombing aircraft struggled to operate because of the large plumes of smoke blanketing the area, authorities said.

The fires broke out during Greece's worst heat wave in three decades last week, with searing temperatures and dry heat causing tinder box conditions. Temperatures had cooled somewhat but were forecast to rise again during the week, meaning the risk of flare-ups remained high.

In Athens, officials began to assess the damage from a blaze which tore through several suburbs north of the city last week before beginning to recede on Saturday.

The blaze, which broke out on the foothills of Mount Parthina on the outskirts of the capital, sent thousands of people fleeing and damaged homes and businesses as well as thousands of hectares of forest land.

Greece has received assistance from a number of European countries to help battle the flames and more than 600 firefighters tried to contain the fire on Evia on Monday.

More than 2,000 residents and tourists have been evacuated by ferry since last Tuesday. 

READ MORE: 'It's huge': Fire rages on Evia island on sixth day of Greek wildfires

Evia fires still burning

On Monday, the flames continued across northern Evia, threatening yet more villages. Satellite imagery from the European Union's Earth Observation Program showed vast tracts of the island charred, with the fire having cut across it from coast to coast.

Greece’s Civil Protection chief, Nikos Hardalias, has stressed firefighters have been doing everything they can. Firefighters from Ukraine, Romania and Serbia have been sent to Evia, where more than 600 firefighters are operating, along with five helicopters and five water-dropping planes, the fire department said on Monday.

One volunteer firefighter died last week after being hit by a falling electricity pole at the site of the fire north of Athens, while four more were hospitalised in the Greek capital, two of them in critical condition with extensive burns.

Authorities were on Monday putting the priority on saving the villages of Kamatriades and Galatsades because "if the fire passes through there, it will end up in a thick forest that will be difficult to extinguish," firefighters told the Greek news agency ANA.

As the sweeping wall of fire laid siege to one village after another on the north of the island, firefighters toiled until dawn to quench flames at Monokarya in order to protect the town of Istiaia, all without the help of water-dousing aircraft, ANA reported.

Thick and suffocating smoke on Monday also enveloped the coastal region of Pefki, where hundreds of villagers had been evacuated by sea, while others regrouped, an AFP reporting team said.

Around 300 people evacuated from surrounding villages spent the night in a ferry moored near the long beach. Looming in the haze offshore, a military ship awaited further evacuees.

The ferry "was the only place where people could get a little peace and security," a military official, Panagiotis Charalambos, told AFP.

READ MORE: Thousands evacuated in Greece as fires continue to rage

Like many nearby communities, Pefki "had no electricity or water," he said.

"Here, the people lived from the forest, from the crops, olives and tourism. There's nothing of that left now," said Louisa, a pensioner in Pefki.

Finance Minister Christos Staikouras said up to 6,000 euros per household would be allocated to residents whose homes were damaged, as well as 4,500 euros for the injured.

In the town of Aidipsos, collections of basic necessities were organised for villagers who had lost everything in the fire.

"Have you seen the state offer us water? Snacks for the children? No one! They are just letting shopkeepers and individuals give water to people," Pefki resident Giorgos told AFP.

Wildfires were also burning in Turkey, southern Italy, North Macedonia and Montenegro, where a large fire in the Malo Brdo district of the capital Podgorica came close to houses.

In North Macedonia, dozens of wildfires have followed a heat wave that saw the highest temperatures recorded in decades. At least eight fires were still burning on Monday, mostly in remote areas where only helicopters and planes could be used to fight them. Thousands of hectares of pine, beech and oak forests have been decimated. Five men have been arrested on suspicion of arson.

Climate change reality

While rain brought some respite from the blazes in Turkey over the weekend, Greece continued to suffer from an intense heat wave that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said should show even doubters the hard reality of climate change.

Monday's report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that the 1.5C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement would likely be breached around 2030 – a decade earlier than it projected just three years ago.

Meanwhile the EU said it was mobilising "one of Europe's biggest ever common firefighting operations" to assist Greece and other countries.

The response was needed "as multiple fires affect several countries simultaneously," EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said.

Giorgos Kelaitzidis, Evia's deputy governor, echoed many when he blasted the "insufficient forces" to fight the fires while "the situation is critical" on the island.

He said at least 35,000 hectares of land and hundreds of homes have been burned.

From July 29 to August 7,56,655 hectares (140,000 acres) were burnt in Greece, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. 

The average area burnt over the same period between 2008 and 2020 was 1,700 hectares.

Some 650 firefighters have so far been deployed on Evia, according to Greek authorities.

But the air support faced "serious difficulties" because of turbulence, thick smoke and limited visibility, Greece's Civil Protection Deputy Minister Nikos Hardalias said.

The situation looked better elsewhere, with officials saying that fires in the southwestern Peloponnese region and in a suburb north of Athens had abated. A fire on Crete was brought under control.

But Hardalias warned the risk of fires resurging was heightened.

READ MORE: Greece 'waging battle of titans' as flames destroy 150 homes