Fires in Greece: At least 60,000 hectares have already been burned

According to initial estimates, at least 60,000 hectares or 600 square kilometers of area have been burned in the fires in Greece.

The state broadcaster ERT reported on Saturday, citing the National Observatory Athens.

It was pointed out that these are only preliminary estimates because many fires continue to rage uncontrollably, especially on the Peloponnese peninsula and the island of Evia.

For comparison: According to the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food, forest fires burned 368 hectares in Germany last year.

In the drought summer of 2018, which was remembered by devastating forest fires, especially in eastern Germany, it was 2350 hectares.

"If we don't contain the fires, we have a huge problem"

Meanwhile, the catastrophic fire continues and brings dangerous air to the metropolis of Athens. Because of the heavy smoke, the whole city stinks and ash falls for the third day in a row. "Close all windows and do not go out of the house," the authorities called on the residents. The flames blazed all night long in the north of the Greek capital. "If we do not manage to contain the fires today, then we will have a huge problem," said the lieutenant governor responsible for civil protection for the greater Athens area, Wassilis Kokkalis, on state television on Saturday morning.

Because the winds subsided during the night and early in the morning, there was a "time window" for the fire brigade to get the fires in northern Athens under control, it said. Meanwhile, Kokkalis confirmed that there had been three arrests of suspected arsonists. In general, there is still no all-clear for the numerous large fires in Greece and Turkey. On Saturday night, firefighters in both countries continued to fight the flames. Again and again people were asked to leave the affected regions and to get to safety.

In the north of Athens the flames blazed along many kilometers on Saturday night and turned the night sky red. Places were evacuated that evening and people were housed in hotels, with relatives and friends. On the island of Evia, the approximately 2000 residents of Limni had to be evacuated by ferry because the land route was cut off by the flames. The Peloponnese peninsula, Crete in the far south of the country and cities like Grevena in the north are also affected by the fires that have broken out for days after long heat and drought.

According to the Greek civil defense, the first international aid workers will take action on Saturday. So far, 16 Israeli and 100 Ukrainian firefighters as well as 82 rescue workers and two fire-fighting planes from France have been expected. 40 firefighters and two airmen come from Cyprus. Switzerland sent three fire-fighting helicopters, Sweden is there with two fire-fighting pilots, as well as Romania with 112 fire fighters and 23 vehicles.

Germany is also sending fire fighters to Greece. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior told the German Press Agency on Saturday that Germany had actively offered help last night, which Greece has since accepted. "Fire fighters from North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and the Technical Relief Organization are currently preparing to move quickly with emergency vehicles to Greece in order to support the fight against forest fires there."

Germany also offered to support the fight against forest fires by renting suitable helicopters with the necessary payload. It is currently unclear whether the use of the helicopters will be requested by Greece. Opposition parties in the Bundestag had criticized the fact that Germany had not sent any aid to Greece in the face of numerous forest fires. Numerous EU and other European countries had already sent fire-fighting helicopters to Greece to fight the flames.

In Turkey, too, where the coastal regions in the south and west in particular have been severely affected for days, fires continue to threaten numerous places. In the western Turkish city of Mugla, the emergency services did not come to rest, according to local authorities in the Köycegiz district, the first people were brought to safety on Friday evening. Once again, fire fighters had to protect a power plant from the flames and remove combustible material, as the state news agency Anadolu reported.

The situation has now calmed down in Antalya in the south of Turkey. However, the fires left great destruction there. Entire villages were burned to the ground. The disaster control authority Afad set up containers as emergency shelters. At the same time, there is growing anger against the government. Since the fires started last week, criticism of their crisis management has been raised again and again.