Nearly 100,000 hectares have burned in less than two weeks in Greece, a record since the deadly fires of 2007 that ravaged several regions of the country, according to data updated Wednesday from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mistotakis spoke of "a natural disaster of an exceptional magnitude", after the 586 fires which devastated in a few days several regions "in the four corners of Greece".
"Very destructive" fires
In fourteen days of dazzling forest fires, more than 93,600 hectares went up in smoke in this Mediterranean country hit in early August by an exceptional heatwave, according to calculations made from EFFIS data from July 29 to August 11.
On average, over the same period between 2008 and 2020, some 2,330 hectares had burned.
"The fires that are raging right now are very destructive and have a very unusual level of intensity," said Mark Parrington, scientist from Copernicus, the European climate change service, of which EFFIS is a part.
The symbolic mark of 100,000 hectares burned in Greece is expected to be reached on Thursday or Friday, as fires continued to rage in the Peloponnese and the island of Euboea on Wednesday, respectively in the west and east of the country.
"In Greece, we have never had such big fires"
Accounting for more than half of the burnt areas, the island of Evia, the second largest in Greece, bears the heaviest price.
Its thick pine groves, still in flames on Wednesday, have largely been reduced to ashes in the northern part of the island.
“In a way, these fires were predictable due to the very dry season,” said Charalampos Kontoes, research director at the National Observatory in Athens.
“But I can say that in Greece we have never had such big fires.
We (still) have fires in the hot season but not of this size, ”he commented.
"Consequences on the economy"
As of August 11, 110,000 hectares had gone up in smoke since the start of the year, more than 90% of which in the last two weeks, against 9,188 on average over the period from 2008 to 2020, according to the latest figures from EFFIS.
“Our data shows that we have not had such intense fires since August 2007,” added Mark Parrington of Copernicus.
More than 250,000 hectares of forests, olive groves and pine forests were charred in August 2007 in violent fires that killed 77 people.
The “climate change hotspot”
At the beginning of August, Greece was hit by "the worst heatwave" in three decades, according to its Prime Minister.
For a week, the mercury reached 45 degrees in several parts of the country and flirted with 43 degrees in the capital.
Experts unequivocally link this heat wave to climate change.
A preliminary UN report qualifies the Mediterranean rim as a “climate change hotspot”.
"The link between climate and forest fires is cruelly established in Mediterranean Europe," said Matthew Jones, climate change expert at East Anglia University.
Since the 1980s, the number of days when the weather favors forest fires “has almost doubled”.
"Years to regenerate"
Under the effect of an exceptional heat wave, the fires in Greece not only devastated forests "but also areas of agriculture, areas of agroforestry", added Charalampos Kontoes, foreseeing "consequences on the Greek economy ”.
Because the land, once fertile and cultivable, will take "years to regenerate", predicts the head of the Athens Observatory.
EFFIS forecasts suggest that in Greece, "forest fires will persist as long as there is no significant rains", at least until August 17, added Thomas Smith, professor of geography at the London School of Economics.
According to him, "the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better."
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