As firefighters tried to control the huge and persistent forest fires, hundreds of people were forced to flee their homes in Greece.
On Sunday, tourists and inhabitants were evacuated by boat from Evia, Greece’s second-largest island as Greece wildfire increases. A total of more than 2,000 people have been evacuated as of now. While the blaze on Evia is the most serious, there are dozens of minor fires raging across the country.
The Greece wildfire erupted following the worst heatwave in 30 years, with temperatures reaching 45 degrees Celsius (113F). Because of human-caused climate change, heatwaves like this are growing more common and more severe. Subsequent hot and dry weather has the potential to fuel wildfires.
“We have ahead of us another difficult evening, another difficult night,” Civil Protection Deputy Minister Nikos Hardalias said on Sunday.
“On Evia we have two major fire fronts, one in the north and one in the south,” he said, adding that the situation around the capital Athens had improved.
“We are afraid of the danger of flare-ups,” Mr Hardalias warned.
A total of 17 planes and helicopters, with hundreds of firefighters and Army deployed to Evia, are supporting the effort there. Since Tuesday, the coastguard has evacuated around 2,000 people off the island. Dramatic images shows ships loaded with passengers passing through a flaming landscape with brilliant red skies.
“I feel angry. I lost my home… nothing will be the same,” one resident, Vasilikia, told Reuters news agency as she boarded a rescue ferry on Sunday.
“It’s a disaster. It’s huge. Our villages are destroyed, there is nothing left from our homes,” she added.
Authorities have cautioned that the possibility of more fires in numerous areas, including Athens and Crete, remains high.
Meanwhile, Greece’s prime minister has warned that the country could be hit by a “nightmarish summer” of forest fires. According to the European Forest Fire Information System, more than 56,000 hectares (140,000 acres) had been burned in Greece in the last ten days.
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