Greece on high alert as wildfires burn out of
control
The fires are starting to exert a political cost on
the government.
BY NEKTARIA
STAMOULI
August 6,
2021 6:43 pm
A fourth
day of raging wildfires in Greece saw thousands of Athenians evacuated from
their homes as flames approached the Greek capital.
The outlook
is dire, with strong winds forecast that will fan the fires. Neighboring North
Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria and Turkey are also battling fires.
"Our
country is facing an extremely critical situation," Greek Prime Minister
Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address on Thursday night, adding that
the country had to strengthen its preparedness for severe weather brought on by
climate change. The government's response is being attacked by the opposition,
which accuses it of mismanaging the disaster.
Thousands
of Athenians had to evacuate their houses overnight in the capital's northern
suburbs as flareups regained strength on Thursday evening, while hundreds were
evacuated by boat from Greece's second largest island of Evia, near Athens. A
38-year old man was killed by a falling electricity pylon in the Athenian
suburb of Ippokrateios Politeia. At least nine others have been treated in
hospital.
“Locals
fought all night to save their fortunes, but in vain,” Giorgos Tsouparniotis,
the mayor of Mantoudi, a town on Evia, told local TV, adding that more than 300
houses and about 45,000 hectares have been destroyed. “The battle was unequal,
the fire burned everything in its path. In the evening we lived a nightmare,
seeing people hanging from their roofs with the house already on fire and them
not coming down ... Those people were fighting alone to save whatever they
could.”
Six of
Greece's 13 regions were placed on high alert Friday as firefighters battled
more than 92 blazes. Forests are ablaze and hundreds of houses, cars and
businesses have gone up in flames. Parts of the power grid have been damaged,
and authorities are imposing power cuts to save energy. The choking smoke has
given Athens some of the worst air in the world.
Helicopters
and water bombers buzzed overhead; the military has also been brought in to
fight the fires. Firefighters, planes and helicopters are already in the
country or on the way from Cyprus, France, Sweden, Romania, Switzerland and
Israel.
With the fires
still active, the political fallout is starting to grow. Opposition parties
argue that the winds and heat wave aren't enough to explain why the fires are
raging out of control. Local authorities in Evia and the Peloponnese are also
complaining about a lack of resources to tackle the blazes.
“They have
brought 1,000 policemen here that do nothing, I need firefighters to save the
village,” said Konstantinos Anyfantis, the deputy mayor of Afidnes, east of
Athens.
Mitsotakis
said the authorities are prioritizing saving lives and admitted that it is
“simply impossible” to prevent damage to properties and forests, while also
protecting people.
“There will
be time for criticism and self-criticism, but not now,” he said.
The
government issued a decree on Thursday prohibiting people from entering forests
at least until Monday, with fines as high as €10,000
Justice
Minister Kostas Tsiaras warned that arson will be treated as a felony and
anyone convicted faces up to five years in prison.
“The
environmental damage caused by forest arson is for the first time explicitly
standardized as a crime and the perpetrators will be punished with
imprisonment,” he tweeted.
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