Fires in Greece: the large island of Euboea, ravaged by flames
Audio 01:09
Residents of the village of Gouves struggling with the flames, this Sunday, August 8 on the island of Euboea.
AFP - ANGELOS TZORTZINIS
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
About ten days after their outbreak, the fires continue to wreak havoc in Greece.
Most of the effort is focused on Evia, the country's second largest island, east of Athens.
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With our special correspondent on the island of Evia,
Nicolas Rocca
The situation on the island is absolutely out of proportion to that which has been observed in the suburbs of Athens.
In front of us, residents are watching trees ignite by the side of the road.
We are a few hundred meters from their village.
They are about ten and cut branches to prevent the fire from spreading to the other side of the road.
A thick smoke emerges, we have the feeling that fires are everywhere.
Before arriving at this fire, we traveled dozens and dozens of kilometers of completely charred land.
The scenes are apocalyptic, with partly destroyed villages, charred trees, burnt electricity poles in the middle of the road.
The sky is covered with thick orange smoke.
From time to time, planes of the Greek firefighters come to pierce it, filled with water.
On the ground, however, we can hardly see the Greek authorities.
In the north of the island of Evia, fires are still very active.
Over tens of kilometers stretch still smoldering apocalyptic landscapes.
Electric poles were close to falling on the road.
pic.twitter.com/czNctpAMjB
- Nicolas Rocca (@lenicorocca) August 8, 2021
In the north of the island of Evia, fires are still very active.
Over tens of kilometers stretch still smoldering apocalyptic landscapes.
Electric poles were close to falling on the road.
pic.twitter.com/czNctpAMjB
- Nicolas Rocca (@lenicorocca) August 8, 2021
The gap is total, with the management of fires in the outskirts of Athens.
There were really a lot of police roadblocks.
This time, it is totally possible to get as close as possible to the fires.
North of Athens, the situation appears to be on the way to being brought under control.
But if the authorities still ask to evacuate the place, some of the villagers remain deaf to their calls.
Others, who number in the thousands, have had to abandon their homes.
In the region of Attica, north of Athens, I think the situation is under control. There are still scattered outbreaks, we hope that it will not resume. We hope that there will be no more problems in this region. The situation is difficult in the Peloponnese, it remains really very complicated, but also in the island of Euboea. We are still waiting for developments during the day. We have a lot of forces there working to put an end to the fires. In both cases, it is the topography of the place that makes things complicated: there are a lot of mountains, places that are difficult to access for firefighters. Temperatures are always very important. Both the firefighters and the volunteers are exhausted because they have worked tirelessly for 10 days.
Dimitris Stathopoulos, President of the Greek Federation of Fire Fighters
Nicolas rocca
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